USA > Michigan > Ionia County > History of Ionia County, Michigan : her people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 27
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Edwin Forrest Beckwith was reared in Ohio, receiving his elementary education in the grade schools of Zanesville, Cincinnati and Columbus and was graduated from the high school in the latter city, after which he took a course at Farmer's College in the suburbs of Cincinnati. From early childhood he had displayed a decided artistic talent. and this talent was further cultivated by a course in art, and many of his early paintings were exhibited in Columbus and attracted favorable attention among friends and in the art circles of that section. Previously he had been engaged as a traveling salesman by a wholesale shoe house, and during all this time was sedulously employing his leisure in the reading of medical books, under the careful direction of his father. Subsequently he entered Starling Medical
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College at Columbus, from which he was graduated in 1885, since which time he has been continuously engaged in the practice of his profession.
Following his graduation from medical college, Dr. Edwin F. Beck- with left Columbus and located at Urbana, Ohio, where he opened an office and was engaged in the practice of his profession for about six months, at the end of which time, attracted by the glowing reports that then were emanating from this favored section of Michigan, he came to lonia county and located at Muir, at once taking a high place among the medical practi- tioners of this section. After a practice of about three years at Muir, Doctor Beckwith was appointed medical superintendent of the state reforma- tory and house of correction at lonia and held that important position during the incumbency of the Republican administration, at the end of which he resigned, but was afterward reappointed and altogether served in that capacity for a period of ten years, meantime maintaining an office in the city of lonia, where he has been established as a successful and widely known practitioner ever since 1887, thus being one of the best-known physi- cians in this part of the state.
On December 23, 1880, Dr. Edwin F. Beckwith was united in mar- riage to Kate Burr, who was born in Delaware, Ohio, one of the nine chil- dren of Col. Raymond and Eliza ( Runyon ) Burr, and to this union four children have been born, as follow: Alice F., who married Prof. F. B. Stiven, of Oberlin College, and has three children, Elizabeth, Robert and Mary Jean; Bertha B., who married Prof. E. H. Johnson, of Kenyon Col- lege, Gambier, Ohio, and has one child, a son, Raymond; Raymond B., pro- fessor of biology in the Tempe Normal School at Tempe, Arizona, who married Erma Jones and has two children, a daughter, Janice, and a son, Edwin Forrest, and Mary Louise, who married the Rev. Franklin D. Butchart, of Cleveland, Ohio.
Doctor and Mrs. Beckwith are earnest members of the Presbyterian church at Ionia, the doctor having been a ruling elder in that congregation for many years, and both are among the leaders in the social and cultural activities of the city, being held in the very highest esteem throughout this whole region. Doctor Beckwith is a thirty-second degree Mason, affiliated with the blue lodge, the chapter and the council of that order at lonia and with the consistory at Grand Rapids, having been a Scottish Rite Mason since February 20, 1896, and is also a member of Saladin Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Grand Rapids, in all of which departments of Masonry he takes a warm interest.
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WINSLOW PAGE BURHANS.
In the memorial annals of lonia county no name stands out more promi- nently than that of the late Winslow Page Burhans, one of the early bankers of lonia and a man whose part in the development of the material interests of that city and of the county at large was of incalculable value to the com- munity. His widow is still living at Ionia, where she enjoys many evidences of the high esteem in which she is held by all.
Winslow P. Burhans was born in Albany county, New York, one of the five children born to Cornelius and Hannah ( Legg ) Burhans, well-to-do farming people, who spent all their lives in that county. He was given an excellent education and was early trained to a mercantile life, which he fol- lowed for a time and later engaged in tanning in northern New York, in the Adirondacks. While there, in 1857. he married and two years later, in 1859, he and his wife came to Michigan and located at lonia, where Mr. Burhans spent the rest of his life and where Mrs. Burhans is still living. Upon his arrival in Ionia Mr. Burhans engaged in the banking business and was thus engaged quite successfully until failing health compelled his retirement from active business, his death occurring in 1885. He was a member of the Presbyterian church, as is his widow, and was an active member of the Masonic fraternity.
On July 29. 1857. Winslow P. Burhans was united in marriage to Rachel A. Dorman, who was born at Albany, New York, July 15. 1831, youngest of the six children of Daniel and Cornelia ( Witbeck ) Dorman, the other children of that family having been Sarah. Jacob, Harriet, Gertrude and Nancy. Daniel Dorman was for years a well-known merchant in Albany. In their later years he and his wife removed to lonia, where they spent a couple of years, later going to Illinois, where Mr. Dorman died. His widow died in Albany, while making a visit to her old home there, at the age of seventy-three. Daniel Dorman was the second in order of birth of the four children born to his parents, Aaron Dorman and wife, natives of Albany county, and farming people. His wife, Cornelia, was the fourth in order of birth of the five children born to her parents, the others having been Will- iam, Stephen, Gertrude and Sarah. Her mother, Elizabeth ( Teneyck ) Wit- beck, was the third wife of her father, Grandfather Witbeck, having been married three times, having two children by his first wife and one by his second. Grandmother Witbeck was the daughter of old Major Teneyck, who built a mansion on the Hudson river, which remained a landmark in
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that vicinity for many years, being finally destroyed by fire but a few years ago.
To Winslow P. and Rachel A, (Dorman) Burhans three children were born, Hannah, lovingly known to her friends as "Dolly": Winslow, who died at the age of three years and six months, and Winslow. second. who died unmarried at the age of twenty-five years. On October 10, 1883. Han- nah Burhans married Willis VanDevanter, of Marion, Indiana, who later moved to Wyoming, where he became chief justice of the supreme court of that state: later United States circuit judge for the eighth judicial circuit and who on December 16, 1910, was appointed associate justice of the United States supreme court, now living in Washington, D. C .. to which union two sons have been born. Isaac Page and Winslow Page Burhans.
THOMAS A. CARTEN.
Thomas A. Carten, the owner of "The Big Daylight Store." one of the large department stores of Ionia, Michigan, was born in Ontario, Canada. on October 6, 1860. He is the son of John and Katherine ( Stone ) Carten. he a native of Dublin, Ireland, and she of Lampkin county, Ontario. They were the parents of the following children: Thomas A .. the subject of this sketch: Richard, who lives in Ionia: Mary, who is the wife of Charles Krup. of Otisco, Ionia county; Charles, who lives in Grand Rapids: Annie. who is the wife of Arthur Cain, of lonia; Katherine, who is the wife of Joseph Watcha, of Orleans, lonia county: John, of Chicago, Illinois: Frank. of lonia, superintendent of the Carten store: Ella, who lives at Detroit. Michigan, and John and Robert, who died when young.
John Carten, father of the subject of this sketch, came to Canada when a boy and then to the United States in 1873. He located in Cannonsburg. Kent county, where he ran a carriage, wagon and blacksmith shop for a number of years. The last ten years of his life were spent in lonia, where he died in 1914 at the age of eighty-five. He belonged to the Catholic church. His wife survives him, and is now past seventy-seven years of age. . She is a Baptist. The father of John Carten was Patrick Carten. and his wife was Mary ( Swift ) Carten. They were both natives of Ireland. He was a merchant in Dublin. He died in Ireland at about thirty-eight years of age, but his wife came to Canada, and died at Cannonsburg, Mich- igan, at the age of ninety-two years. They had four children: John.
THOMAS A. CARTEN.
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father of the subject of this sketch: Michael, Mary and Thomas. The father of Katherine ( Stone ) Carten, the mother of the subject of this sketch. was Charles Stone, whose wife was Jane ( Wortman) Stone. The Wortmans were natives of England. Charles Stone was a native of Ver- mont. He was a pioneer in this county and cleared up five farms. They both died at an advanced age. Their family consisted of the following children : Minerva. Katherine, George, Charles, Anna, John and Richard.
Thomas A. Carten, the subject of this sketch, lived in Canada until he was twelve years of age, and attended the public schools there. He then came to the United States and lived in Canonsburg until the age of seven- teen, at which time he came to fonia. He began clerking for Stone Broth- ers in their drygoods store and remained there for six years. He then went with Marshall Field, of Chicago, for two years and lived there; then went to Newton, Kansas, where he spent a few months, but returned to Chicago to accept a position as the head of the department for James H. Walker & Company. This position he held for two years. He came to lonia in 1887 and became a member of the firm of Stone & Carten, and remained in this position for three years. This partnership was then dissolved, and Mr. Carten took over the business, and the firm name was changed to Thomas .A. Carten. Business has increased and Mr. Carten now employs about forty-five clerks.
On May 3, 1892, Thomas A. Carten was married to Etta McDonald, who is a daughter of Patrick and Helen ( Murphy ) McDonald. Subject and wife had but one child, who died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Carten are . members of the Catholic church. He belongs to the Knights of Columbus, and also to the Hibernians. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Foresters, and of the Royal Arcanum. He is also a member of the Moose lodge, and of the lonia Lodge No. 548, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is a Democrat in politics, and was state deputy oil inspector under governor Winans. Hle was an alderman for several years, and was also a supervisor.
Etta McDonald was born in Holly, New York, the daughter of Pat- rick and Ellen ( Murphy ) McDonald, natives of Ireland. both of whom are now deceased. They were the parents of two children. Etta and Mary. Patrick McDonald served in Company 13. Tenth Michigan Cavalry, and saw active service during the Civil War. After his honorable discharge from the army he continued to reside in Michigan. Patrick McDonald was the son of Francis and Bridget ( Bindley) McDonald, both of whom were natives of Ireland. Francis McDonald died in his native land and his
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widow brought their children to this country and settled in New York. They were the parents of the following children: Nancy, Mary, Patrick, Rose, Bridget and Frank. Mrs. Ellen ( Murphy ) McDonald was the daughter of James and Mary ( Howard ) Murphy.
Mr. Carter has had exceptional training in his chosen field of endeavor. From his earliest youth he has been engaged in, and has constantly studied, merchandising. After entering the Marshall Field establishment in Chi- cago, his advancement was very rapid. He started in the dress-goods department and by successive promotions soon was in the imported-goods department, one of the most important departments in the Fiekl establish- ment. While in this latter department Mr. Carten had the valued oppor- tunity of co-operating with Mr. Wallace, noted as one of the most compe- tent judges of laces in the world, and there he absorbed a thorough knowl- edge of foreign merchandise and especially of the finer laces. While in the Field employ Mr. Carten became intimately associated with Mr. John Shedd, now the head of the great Field stores.
Needless to say. the Carten store in lonia reflects the value of Mr. Carten's comprehensive training in his business. Mr. Carten has made his store deservedly popular and this bespeaks itself in the splendid patronage enjoyed.
ALFRED RUSSELL LOCKE.
AAlfred Russell Locke, former prosecuting attorney of lonia county and member of the board of control of the Michigan state reformatory at lonia, is a native son of this county, having been born on a farm in Easton town ship, August 28, 1868, son of Wilbur 11. and Harriet L. ( Parker ) Locke. the former of whom also is a native of this county and the latter of Orleans county, New York, for years well-to-do farmers of Otisco township. this county, now living in comfortable retirement in the city of lonia.
Wilbur 11. Locke is the son of Jonathan Russell and Mary ( Goodwin ) Locke, the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of New York, who, in 1837, came to Michigan, settling in lonia county and taking a claim in lonia township, being thus among the very earliest settlers of this region, and here they spent the remainder of their lives, well-respected and highly useful citizens of the community. Mary Goodwin Locke died on the home- stead farm in lonia township in 1855. Jonathan Russell Locke survived her many years, his death occurring at the home of his son in Otisco town- ship in 1895. He and his wife were the parents of six children, Cynthia.
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Ruth, Wilbur, Electa, Manirsa and Mary. Wilbur H. Locke was reared on the homestead farm in lonia township and grew up to the life of a farmer. Being the only son he was an aid to his father in the labors of developing the homestead. In September, 1861, he enlisted for service during the Civil War in Company D, Third Michigan Cavalry, with which he served until the close of the war, being mustered out as a non-commissioned officer in September, 1865.
At the close of the war Wilbur H. Locke returned to the farm and shortly thereafter married Harriet 1. Parker, a neighbor, daughter of Edward Z. and Clarissa D. ( Gregory ) Parker, natives of New York state, who came to lonia county in 1865. settling on a farm in Easton township. later moving into Otisco township, where Mr. Parker died. His widow retired to Ionia in 1911 and died there the year following, at the age of eighty-nine years. They were the parents of two children, daughters both, Harriet L., who married Mr. Locke, and Sarah. To Wilbur H. Locke and wife but two children were born, sons both, of whom the subject of this biographical sketch alone survives, his brother, Charles Parker Locke, hav- ing died in 1904.
Alfred Russell Locke was reared on the paternal farm, receiving his early education in the district school in the neighborhood of his home and in the high school at Bekdling, from which latter school he was graduated in 1886, after which he began teaching school, continuing his work on the farm during the summers. In the fall of 1888 he entered the Agricultural College at Lansing and was graduated from that institution in 1891, and in the fall of that year was married, after which he again entered the ranks of lonia county teachers and was thus engaged for one year, at the end of which time he was appointed clerk of the law library at the capitol at Lansing and served in that important capacity for two years, during which time his inclination to embrace the law as a profession was greatly strengthened, his previous studies along that line having been advanced amid the excellent setting for a law student he found in the state law library. Mr. Locke then received the appointment as deputy United States consul at Glasgow, Scol- land, and spent two years abroad in the consular service of the country. Hle then returned to fonia county and, having been admitted to the bar in 1893, began the practice of his profession at Belding, where he remained until the spring of 1898, at which time he moved to lonia, where he has been located ever since.
Upon locating at lonia Mr. Locke formed a partnership for the practice of the law with Judge Allan B. Morse, former judge of the state supreme
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court, which mutually agreeable partnership continued for nine years. at the end of which time, in 1907. Mr. Locke formed a partnership with Dwight C. Sheldon, under the firm name of Locke & Sheldon, which partnership was continued until the death of Mr. Sheldon in May, 1912, since which time Mr. Locke has been practicing alone. Mr. Sheldon was prosecuting attorney of Ionia county at the time of his death and his partner, Mr. Locke. was appointed to fill the unexpired term. In the fall of 1912 he was elected to that office, as the nominee of the Democratic party in this county, and served until January 1, 1915, the date of the expiration of his term of office. Since retiring from public office Mr. Locke has been engaged in private practice, and has an extensive and constantly growing practice. In 1901 Mr. Locke was appointed as a member of the board of control of the state reformatory at lonia and has been twice re-appointed to that position, his present term of service in that capacity running to February, 1918. For three terms Mr. Locke served as city attorney of the city of lonia and for three years has been a member of the lonia school board, of which he is now president.
On October 20, 1891, Alfred R. Locke was united in marriage to Ona B. Morse, who was born in Otisco township, this county. September 30. 1869, daughter of Joseph D. and Emily ( Fiske ) Morse, both natives of this county, the former of whom died in 1913, at the age of seventy years and the latter of whom is still living, who were the parents of three children. Ona B., John L. and Rufus R. Joseph D. Morse, who was an honored veteran of the Civil War, member of the First Regiment, Michigan Engi- neers and Mechanics, and a prominent farmer of this county, was the son of Judge John L. Morse, a pioneer of this county, one of the early judges of the probate court of lonia county, and one of the modern Argonauts who made the long and perilous trip to California after gold in 1849. Both Judge Morse and his wife were natives of New York state and upon coming to Michigan first settled in Oakland county, later coming to this county. and then moved to lonia where they passed the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of seven children, Alla B., Joseph D., Willard. Rufus, Perry, Rhoda and Cadelia. Emily ( Fiske) Morse's father. Joseph Fiske, a native of New York state and a pioneer of lonia county, was twice married. by his first wife having had one chikl, a son, Frank. By his second wife, who was a Kimberly, he had three children, Ambert, Walter and Emily. Mr. Locke is a member of lonia Lodge No. 175, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and of lonia Lodge No. 548, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
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ERASTUS T. YEOMANS.
Erastus T. Yeomans, veteran druggist at lonia and for many years one of the most prominent and progressive men of affairs in that city, is a native son of this county, having been born on a homestead farm in Easton township, June 11, 1842, son of Sanford A. and Abigail ( Thompson ) Yeo- mans, pioneers of that section, the former of whom for many years was one of the leading men in this county, a member of the state constitutional convention, for several years a member of the state Legislature and in all ways actively interested in the best development of this region.
The Hon. Sanford A. Yeomans was one of the earliest settlers in lonia county. He was born in German Flats, Herkimer county, New York, son of Erastus and Phoebe (Arnold) Yeomans, the former a native of Con- necticut and the latter of Rhode Island. Erastus Yeomans was a fife major in Captain Morgan's company, Major Shoemaker's Battalion, during the War of 1812, and after his service in that war resumed his place on the farm of his parents, Daniel and Esther Yeomans. in Connecticut, and became a skillful farmer. He married Phoebe Arnold and in 1833 he and his family joined the colony, headed by Samuel Dexter, which settled in lonia county in 1833. thus becoming among the very earliest residents of this section of Michigan. Samuel Dexter had entered a large tract of land in the central part of this county and this land was apportioned among the colonists who accompanied him from the East, Erastus Yeomans' tract being located at a point a quarter of a mile west of the present site of the armory in the city of Ionia.
Upon arriving here the Dexter colonists made a friendly compact with the Indians, who then had a village at that point, and bought the corn and the wigwams of the Indians, the settlers living in the Indian wigwams until they could erect log cabins in the wilderness. They straightaway began to clear the land and improve their farms and it was not long until a flourish- ing village was under way, the beginning of the present thriving city of Ionia. Erastus Yeomans, from the very start, was one of the leaders of the colony. He was an unusually skillful scribe, writing a hand of such beautiful regularity that it might easily be mistaken for copper-plate script. and naturally became the first village clerk. When the postoffice was estab- lished he was made postmaster, receiving his commission from President Jackson, and upon the formal organization of the county was elected one of the two associate judges, a position of honor and responsibility which he
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licld for two terms, eight years, and in which he was able to exert a pro- found influence for good in the formative period of this now well-established and prosperous community. Erastus Yeomans held various other offices of public trust and to the end of his days was regarded as a leader in the community life hereabout. He lived to the great age of ninety-two years. a faithful counsellor to the end. His wife had died in her sixty-fifth year. They were the parents of nine children, Sanford .\., Amanda, Maria, Alan- son, Hiram, Emily, Mary, Harriet and one who died in early youth.
Sanford A. Yeomans, eldest son of the pioneer, Erastus Yeomans, was sixteen years old when he came to this county with his parents and the other Dexter colonists and he spent the remainder of his life here, in his turn becoming a substantial and useful member of the community. One of the great tasks upon which he engaged was that of helping cut the road through the forest from Jackson to Ionia. His father gave him a "forty" about a mile northwest of the homestead, which he proceeded to clear and upon his marriage established his home there. Sanford A. Yeomans married Abigail Thompson, who was born in Bennington county, Vermont, daughter of Levi and Miriam ( Kimball ) Thompson, both natives of that state, the former of Scottish descent and the latter of Irish descent. farming people, who spent their lives in Vermont, Levi Thompson dying at the age of eighty and his wife at the age of forty. AAbigail Thompson was one of the five children of her parents who grew to maturity, the others having been Nelson, Sylvester, Francina and Olive. To Sanford A. and Abigail ( Thompson ) Yeomans three children were born, Olive M., now deceased, who was the wife of William J. Just : Walter, of lonia, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume, and Erastus T., the immediate subject of this biographical sketch. The mother of these children died when she was twenty-five years of age and Sanford AA. Yeomans married, secondly. Marietta A. Stebbins, a native of New England, and to this second union there were born a number of children, three of whom, Willard, Frank and Edwin S., grew to maturity.
After his marriage Sanford A. Yeomans continued diligently to improve his farm and as he prospered added to the same until he became the owner of four hundred and thirty acres in that section and was generally recognized as one of the most substantial farmers and men of affairs in the county. He early took an active part in civic affairs, as had his father before him, and was early elected to the position of township clerk. He later was township supervisor and for about fifteen years was superintendent of the poor. He was one of the prime movers in the opening up of the road known as the
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lonia. Houghton and Mackinaw highway. In the larger political affairs of the county he also was active and served very efficiently for two terms as a member of the lower house of the Michigan General Assembly. He also was elected a delegate from this district to the convention charged with the duty of revising the early Constitution of the state and in that capacity performed excellent service in behalf of the state. The Hon. Sanford .1. Yeomans died in 1895, in the eightieth year of his age. His widow sur- vived him for several years.
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