USA > Michigan > Ionia County > History of Ionia County, Michigan : her people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 29
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
Edwin Shellhorn was about five years of age when his parents settled in Berry county and he received his education in the district school in the neighborhood of his home, having to walk two miles to school. During the summers he assisted his father on the farm and was thus engaged until in April, 1901, at which time he entered a general store at Woodbury, as a clerk. In September of that same year he came to lonia county and started to work as a clerk in the clothing store of Elliott & Russ. In 1905 he bought Mr. Russ's interest in the business and in March, 1912. bought the interest of his partner, Mr. Elliott, and since then has been conducting the business alone, his store being the only store in Lake Odessa devoted exclu- sively to men's wear, clothing, general men's furnishings and shoes. Mr. Shellhorn is a Democrat and since coming to this county has given his thoughtful attention to the political affairs of the county. On March 1. 1914, he received his commission as postmaster of Lake Odessa, having been appointed to that office by President Wilson, and is now serving the people of that town and vicinity in that capacity. The office at Lake Odessa being a third-class postoffice, Mr. Shellborn is enabled to continue the manage- metn of his store coincidental with managing the affairs of the postoffice.
On July 28. 1908. at Portland, this county, Edwin Shellhorn was united in marriage to Nettie B. VanHouten, who was born at Charlotte, this state,
.
297
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
October 10, 1881, daughter of Fred E. and Sarah J. ( Dilly ) VanHouten. natives, respectively, of England and France, the former of whom was six- teen years of age when he came to this country with his parents and the latter seven years old when she came to America with her parents. The Van- Houtens came to lonia county from New York in 1850. To Edwin Shell- horn and wife two children have been born, Edwin Van, born on March 1. I911, and Margaret Caroline, November 30, 1914. Mr. and Mrs. Shell- horn are members of the Congregational church and both are teachers in the Sunday school and leaders in all good works in their community. Mr. Shellhorn was a member of the town council and has served as president of the village. He is an active "booster" in all movements having to do with the advancement of the interests of his home town and is regarded as one of the leaders in the general business life of the town. He is a member of the local Masonie lodge and both he and his wife are members of the Order of the Eastern Star. in the affairs of which organizations they take a warm interest.
CYRUS F. BRADEN.
Cyrus F. Braden, well-known insurance agent at Lake Odessa, this county, is a native of Ohio, having been born on a farm five miles from Ashland. in Ashland county, that state, August 2, 1851, son of Jacob and Elizabeth ( McCormick ) Braden, natives, respectively, of Ohio and of Pennsylvania, the former of whom was born on the same farm on which the subject of this sketch was born, the farm cleared by his father, Thomas Braden, more than a century ago.
Jacob Braden was a farmer and in 1865 he left Ohio with his family, he and his wife having six children, and drove through to Michigan, the family driving their live stock with them, and settled in Sebawa township. this county, arriving there on April 21 of that year, having previously Bought a farm in Sebewa township, and there established the family.
Cyrus F. Braden was about fourteen years old when he came to this county with his parents and after finishing the course in the rural school in the neighborhood of his new home attended a select school, in which he prepared himself for teaching. For twelve years he taught school, his summers being occupied by working at the carpenter's trade. After his marriage in the fall of 1876 he began farming, continuing, however, to spend his winters in the school room, and was thus engaged for three or
298
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
four more winters, after which he devoted himself wholly to the farm until 1884, in which year he took a course at the Grand Rapids Business Col- lege in preparation to taking up a mercantile career. He then bought Doc- tor Kirtland's drug store at Lakeview and operated the same with con- siderable success until it was destroyed in the fire which swept that village on August 3, 1804. Mr. Braden's stock was not heavily insured and he consequently suffered a heavy loss. He then gave up the drug business and moved to Lake Odessa, where his brother was engaged in the lumber busi- ness. There was another lumber yard in the village and he bought the same and consolidated it with that of his brother in the fall of 1894, the two brothers continuing this partnership for seven years. During that time Cyrus F. Braden had been doing quite a business in writing insurance and in 1901 gave up his lumber business and has since then been devoting his entire attention to the insurance business, in which he has been quite suc- cessful. In 1906 he bought his wife's father's farm and has since been managing it.
On October 17, 1875, Cyrus F. Braden was united in marriage to Almira C. Cramer, who was born in Odessa township, this county, on Feb- ruary 28, 1855. daughter of Emanuel and Mary Ann ( Meyers ) Cramer, natives of Pennsylvania. He came alone to this county and she with her parents, the former in 1851 and the latter in 1850 and were married shortly after locating here. Emanuel Cramer was a carpenter and many of the buildings erected in the southern part of the county in pioneer days were built by him. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company A, Twenty-first Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and served with that regiment until it was mustered out in June, 1865, he being mustered out with the rank of corporal. His wife was one of the nine children of John and Catherine Meyers, who settled in this county in early days. John Meyers. who was the son of Valentine Meyers, a native of Germany, upon coming to lonia county, entered a quarter section homestead for himself and one for each of his children, the family thus presently becoming one of the most substantial in the southern part of the county.
To Cyrus F. and Almira (. (Cramer) Braden two children have been born, Guy IL., born on September 6, 1876, who is manager of the electric light and gas plant at Cheboygan, this state, married Iva Willcox and has one child. a daughter. Aileen, and Cora B., born February 27, 1880, who married R. A. Colwell, a well-known attorney-at-law at lonia, and has two children, Margaret and Frances. Mr. and Mrs. Braden and their children are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and take an active part in
299
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
church work, Mr. Braden being one of the trustees of the church, an office he has held since 1894. He is a Prohibitionist in political principles, but reserves the right to vote for such candidates for office as he believes best fitted for the duties of public service.
CLAUDE E. HATHAWAY, D. D. S.
Dr. Claude E. Hathaway, well-known dentist at Ionia, this county, is a native son of Ionia county, having been born in Ionia, December 2, 1876, son of Dr. Joseph M. and Sarah .A. ( Phillips) Hathaway, both natives of Michigan, the former of whom was born in Oakland county and the latter in Ionia county.
Joseph M. Hathaway, who was born in 1839, grew to manhood on a pioneer farm in Oakland county, this state. When the Civil War broke out he enlisted in the First Michigan Cavalry and served for three years with that command. At the conclusion of his military service he came to this county and at Ionia took up the study of dentistry under the direction of his brother, Dr. Andrew Hathaway, who had been practicing in that city for some time, and presently opened an office in Ionia and was there engaged in practicing his profession until his retirement in 1903. Soon after set- tling in Ionia, Dr. Joseph M. Hathaway was united in marriage to Sarah A. Phillips, who was born in this county, a member of one of the pioneer families of this section of the state, and to this union two children were born, the subject of this sketch having a sister, Nellie, who married R. L. Taylor, of Grand Rapids, this state. Dr. J. M. Hathaway died in 1900 and his widow still survives him, continuing to make her home at Ionia.
Claude E. Hathaway was reared in fonia and upon completing the course in the excellent schools of that city entered the dental department of the University of Michigan, having determined to embrace the profession in which his father had been for so many years successfully engaged, and after a three-years course was graduated from that institution in 1899, with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. Thus admirably equipped for the practice of his profession, Doctor Hathaway entered the office of his father and the two practiced together until the elder doctor's retirement. since which time Dr. C. E. Hathaway has been conducting the office alone and has been very successful.
In 1906 Dr. Claude F. Hathaway was united in marriage to Lois M.
300
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Ilarvey, a Vermont school teacher, who was visiting her married sister in lonia, and to this union one child has been born, a daughter, Jeane. Mrs. Hathaway was born at St. Albans, Vermont, daughter of Charles H. and Flora E. ( Downing ) Harvey, the former a native of Canada, who, as a young man, went to St. Albans, where he married and spent the rest of his life, having been engaged in the furniture and undertaking business there until his death in 1904. Mrs. Hathaway's mother was born at Will- iamstown. Vermont, where her venerable mother, Mrs. Caroline ( White ) Downing, born in 1829, of Revolutionary ancestry, is still living. Doctor and Mrs. Hathaway take a proper part in the various social and cultural activities of Ionia and the Doctor is a Mason and an Elk, in the affairs of both of which popular organizations he takes a warm interest. having attained to the chapter and the council degrees in the former.
JOHN CELSUS BLANCHARD.
In the memorial annals of lonia county no name stands out more con- spicuously than that of the late John Celsus Blanchard, for many years the acknowledged leader of the bar of the lonia circuit court and who, during the period of his greatest activity, was without a superior as a criminal lawyer in Michigan. He was a pioneer of Ionia county, whose energy and force of character quickly brought him to the front in the calling to which he had devoted his great native talents and his memory long will be cher- ished hereabout.
John C. Blanchard was born at Metz, Cayuga county, New York, Sep- tember 19. 1822, son of a physician at that place, who later came to Mich- igan and became a well-known physician of Lyons, this county. His mother, Hannah ( Jeffries ) Blanchard, was a lineal descendant of the English Judge Jeffries, whose name is inscribed so definitely upon the pages of his nation's history. John C. Blanchard began very carly to look out for himself in the race of life, and when a mere boy began working at a mill in his home town in New York. When he had earned ten dollars he set out for the West and presently reached Detroit, then but a small village. There he secured employment to work on a farm at a wage of six dollars a month. but because of his zeal he was paid eight dollars instead. In the fall of 1836, he then being fourteen years old. he went over into Shiawassee county, where he worked that winter, in the meantime accumulating fifty dollars, the
3301
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
savings of his boyish wages. With this money in his pocket he trudged through the woods to the land office at lonia, a distance of sixty miles, paid over his fifty dollars for forty acres of government land and trudged back to Shiawassee county. In the spring of 1838 he came back to lonia county and engaged to break land for a farmer in the Lyons neighborhood for twelve dollars a month. So faithfully did he perform his part of the con- tract that his employer voluntarily paid him twenty dollars a month for his service instead of the stipulated sum of twelve dollars. In the fall of that vear young Blanchard became a clerk in the store of Giles A. Isham at Lyons and was thus engaged for a year, in the meantime devoting his nights to study. He then, in pursuance of the design to which he had devoted his talents, secured a place in the law office of Roof & Bell at Lyons, where he gave himself up completely to the mastery of the law. He was a natural student and under the direction of his conscientious preceptors made rapid progress in his studies, to which he habitually devoted seventeen hours a day. Three years later. in 1842, he then being but twenty years of age. John C. Blanchard was admitted to practice in the courts of Michigan and thus his career as a lawyer began. He was taken in as a partner by Mr. Roof, a partnership which continued for three years, or until his marriage in 1845. after which he opened an office for himself at Lyons, continuing in practice there until his election in 1850, on the Democratic ticket, to the office of prosecuting attorney for the judicial district, after which he moved to fonia, the county seat, where he ever after made his home. Upon the completion of his term as prosecutor Mr. Blanchard formed a partnership with the Hon. A. F. Bell, which firm in time became one of the most prom- inent law firms in this section of the state, Mr. Blanchard's fame as a crim- inal lawyer reaching to all parts of the state.
During the presidency of James Buchanan, John C. Blanchard was appointed registrar of the United States land office at Tonia and held that position for four years. He was active in local civic affairs and served as village president of Ionia for two terms and as school director for nine years. He was prosecutor for five years and in 1872 was the Democratic nominee for the office of lieutenant-governor of the state of Michigan. As an orator Mr. Blanchard had few equals in this section of the state and his services were ever in great demand in the political campaigns of his party. For years he was a member of the board of trustees of Albion College, to the endowment fund of which he was a liberal contributor, and he also was a liberal contributor to the cause of schools and churches generally, besides which he annually, from the time he became financially able to do so, along
302
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
in the fifties, gave no less than one thousand dollars for charitable and benevolent purposes.
In 1845 John C. Blanchard was united in marriage to Harriet A. Brewster, daughter of Frederick Brewster, of Burlington. Vermont, a lineal descendant of Elder Brewster, who came over in the "Mayflower." Mrs. Blanchard, a woman of deep piety and of many graces of mind and heart. was an able and competent helpmeet to her brilliant husband and was, with him, a leader in the social and cultural activities of this community. In 1880 the Blanchards erected a fine sandstone house in fonia, the same now being occupied by Major and Mrs. Thomas G. Stevenson, the latter of whom is their daughter. Mrs. Blanchard died in 1895. Mr. Blanchard survived his wife ten years, his death occurring in 1905.
MARCELLUS J. AALLEN.
Marcellus J. Allen, a well-to-do retired farmer of Ronald township. this county, who has been making his home in Jonia since his retirement from the farm in 1907, a director of the National Bank of Ionia, and one of the best-known residents of this county, is a native son of lonia county. having been born on a pioneer farm in Ronald township, October 26, 1845, son of Melvin B. and Eliza ( Wood ) Allen, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of the state of New York, early settlers in this county, whose last days were spent in comfortable retirement in the city of lonia.
Melvin B. Allen was born in the Granite state, one of fifteen children born to his parents, Timothy and Eliza ( Bond ) Allen, both natives of Ver- mont, who later moved to Malone. New York, where their last days were spent. Timothy Allen was a soldier in the War of 1812 and for many years successfully followed lumbering in his native state. Melvin B. Allen was reared near Burlington, Vermont, and grew up familiar with every phase of successful lumbering. He married Eliza Wood, who was reared in New York state, and in 1838 came to Michigan, entering the deep woods of this section of the state. For a year he stopped in Berlin township and then moved up into Ronald township, where he bought one hundred and thirty- two and one-half acres of timber land, to which he later added an adjoining "forty," and there he established his home and reared his family. When past sixty-five years of age he retired from the farm and he and his wife moved to Ionia, where they spent their declining years, his death occurring
303
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
in 1800, at the age of seventy-seven years. His widow survived him and was also seventy-seven years of age at the time of her death. Both were members of the Methodist church and he had held various township offices. They were the parents of six children, Clara, who died unmarried ; Elizabeth, deceased, who was the wife of W. S. Cowan, of Easton township, this county; Marcellus J., the subject of this sketch: Edgar M., who died in 1874: Herbert L., who still makes his home on the old homestead in Ronald township. and one who died in infancy.
Marcellus J. Allen was reared on the paternal farm, which he helped to clear, and supplemented his schooling in the subscription schoot in the neighborhood of his home by a year in the public school at Ypsilanti. Upon reaching manhood's estate he bought a quarter of a section of timber land. which he proceeded to clear and develop into a fine farm. He married in 1873 and established his home on that quarter section, to which he later added an adjoining tract of forty-four acres, and there he and his wife remained until 1907, in which year they retired from the farm and moved to lonia, where they are now living, having a very comfortable home at 874 West Main street. Mr. Allen is a Republican and held various township offices during his long residence in Ronald township. He is one of the direc- tors of the National Bank of lonia.
On October 15. 1873. Marcellus J. Allen was united in marriage to Susan S. Morrison, who was born on a farm in what is now South Ionia. March 14. 1844, daughter of John E. and Eliza ( MeKelvey) Morrison, both natives of New York state and pioneers of this county, who spent their last days here, the former dying at the age of eighty and the latter at the age of seventy-six. John E. Morrison was the youngest of five children of Joseph Morrison, a soldier of the American Revolution, and wife, the others having been Joseph, Anna, Susanna and Edward. Joseph Morrison was a prominent resident of Elmira. New York, where he and his wife spent their last days. Grandfather MeKelvey and wife were among the earliest resi- dents of lonia county, having settled here about six months after the coming of the Dexter colony, the first recorded settlers. Among their children who grew to maturity here were John, Eliza, Catherine and Elizabeth. John E. Morrison and wife were the parents of eight children. George, who died during his service as a Union soklier in the Civil War; Joseph, Myra, John, Susan S., Mary, Anna and Charles. Susan S. Morrison received her edu- cation in the lonia schools and was a public school teacher at the time of her marriage to Mr. Allen.
Mr. and Mrs. Allen are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
304
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
of which he is one of the trustees. For thirty-five years Mr. Allen was a member of the Masonic lodge at Palo, this county, but is now affiliated with the lodge of that order at lonia. Both he and his wife take a warm interest in general community affairs and enjoy the high esteem of many friends throughout the county.
ANDREW B. SPINNEY, M. D.
The name of Dr. Andrew B. Spinney, homeopathic physician of Smyrna, Otisco township. lonia county, has long been a household word in this locality. He was born on October 6, 1835, in Stanstead county, Quebec, Canada. His ancestors lived in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The family removed to Panama, New York, in 1850. The early life of Andrew B. Spinney was spent on the farm. He had little opportunity to obtain an education, but attended the district schools awhile in New York state, work- ing on his father's eighty-acre farm there during the crop seasons. While chopping wood with an axe he was severely cut and part of one foot had to be amputated. When nineteen years old he began reading medicine with Doctor Ormes, of Panama, New York. He worked on the farm during the day and read medicine until late at night, also taught school during the winter months. His preceptor was a graduate of the medical school at Castleton, Vermont, and he remained with him three years.
Young Spinney entered the Western Homeopathic College, in Cleve- land, Ohio, in 1857, and remained there two years. He was graduated on March 19, 1859. after which he came with Doctor Farnsworth to Saginaw, Michigan, where they began practicing their profession. Later Doctor Spinney went to Pontiac where he remained a few months, then located in Laporte, Indiana, with Doctor Carr, but he was seized with typhoid fever and after his recovery went to northeastern Pennsylvania, where he spent a year, then went to Clymer, New York, spending a year there, then returned to Saginaw, Michigan, entering again into partnership with Doctor Farns- worth, in the spring of 1861. This partnership continued six years, when Doctor Spinney began practicing alone there until 1871, in which year he sold out and accepted the chair of physiology and anatomy in the Detroit Homeopathic Medical College, remaining there two years, then practiced in Detroit for some time, building up an extensive practice, but owing to failing health he gave up his practice and traveled over the state lecturing for a period of fifteen years, on physiology and hygiene, but he retained
ANDREW B. SPINNEY, M. D.
ـب:
305
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
an office in Detroit, where he saw his patients on certain days. He had charge of the Ahna Sanatorium, at Alma, Michigan, for a year and one- half, then had charge of a santorium in Ypsilanti. Later he spent a short time in Detroit, then went to Reed City and took up sanatarium and hos- pital work, conducting his own hospital. He was burned out, then opened a sanitarium near Belding, fonia county, which was destroyed by fire on February 7, 1906. Soon thereafter he opened his present place of business, at Smyrna, Michigan, and this he has since conducted with success. He maintains, also, an office in Detroit.
Dr. Spinney married Fannie Davis, of Panama, New York. She bore him three children: John B., an attorney of Ahna, Michigan; Mrs. Hattie Soveern, of Evart, Michigan, and Ernest Spinney, M. D., who died at the age of thirty years. Doctor Spinney married, secondly, Tessora Wade, of Hesperia, Michigan, and she bore him one child, a daughter, Tessa Allean. His third wife was Jennie M. Jackson, of Ionia.
Politically. Doctor Spinney is a Republican. Religously, he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church.
EMORY F. STRONG.
Emory F. Strong, one of the best-known and most progressive farmers of lonia county, proprietor of a fine farm of one hundred and fifty acres in Easton township. situated on rural route No. 5. out of Ionia, has a hand- some and substantial farm house on his well-kept place in Easton township, and also a tenant house, is a native son of Ionia county and has lived here all his life with the exception of about four years during his youth, which he spent in Cass county. He was born on a pioneer farm in the northern part of Keene township. this county, September 1, 1845, son of Noble D. and Rozilla ( Potter) Strong, natives of New York state, who came to Michigan in the carly forties and settled on a homestead farm in the north- ern part of Keene township, this county, thus having been among the very earliest settlers of that section. They took a prominent part in the social and material development of that neighborhood and became substantial and influential pioneers. In the latter fifties the Strongs moved to Cass county, where Noble D. Strong developed another farm, but after a residence of four years there returned to lonia county and settled on a farm in section
(201)
306
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
19, Easton township. Noble D. Strong spent his last days in Lowell, where he died on February 21, 1880
Emory F. Strong grew up amid pioneer conditions in Ionia and Cass counties and became a strong and sturdy farmer and an excellent manager. Upon leaving the district schools at the age of fifteen he entered Kalamazoo College. but was compelled to leave there shortly on account of illness. He afterward studied in a select school at Ionia and also took a course in the Detroit Business College. For several years during his young man- hood Mr. Strong was engaged as a teacher in the neighboring schools dur- ing the winters and also was widely known hereabout as a singing-school teacher. In the meantime he was busy developing his farm in section 21. Easton township. As he cleared off his original tract he added to the same until he became the owner of two hundred acres of land. Part of this he later sold and now owns one hundred and fifty acres, a well-kept and profit- ably cultivated farm, one of the best improved in his neighborhood. He has a substantial farm house, surrounded by handsome grounds, and his barns and other farm buildings are in keeping with the same. Mr. Strong has given considerable attention to the raising of fine live stock and his herd of Holstein cattle includes five registered animals. His Chester White hogs also are of a high grade. Mr. Strong is a Republican and served as registrar of deeds of lonia county in 1897 and 1898, and has been town- ship supervisor for several terms, also having held other township offices. and has done well his part in public affairs. For some time he was a director of the Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company and is now a stockholder in the Farmers Co-operative Creamery Company at Saranac, of which he formerly was a director and vice-president. For three years, while their daughters were attending college at Des Moines, Iowa, Mr. and Mrs. Strong made their home in that city, and since 1900 they have maintained a com- fortable home at 626 West Washington street, lonia, where they spend their winters, returning to the farm in the spring.
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.