USA > Michigan > Ionia County > History of Ionia County, Michigan : her people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 30
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
It was on March 6, 1867, that Emory F. Strong was united in mar- riage to Polly L. Welch, who has ever since been a competent and valuable helpmeet to him in all his undertakings. She also is a native of lonia county and was born on a pioneer farm in Easton township. November 23. 1844, daughter of Simon and Nancy ( Sprague ) Welch, early and prominent residents of that community. She grew up in Easton township and. like Mr. Strong, became a teacher in the public schools of the county. ller father, Simon Welch, who for years was one of the most vigorous and influential figures in lonia county, was killed by a fall when she was sixteen
307
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
years old, but so ably had he managed affairs that his family was left well provided for.
Simon Welch was born near Utica, New York, eldest son of Vine and Ruth ( Squires) Welch, the former a blacksmith, who broke up in business when his eldest son was a young man and the latter thereupon took charge of affairs and moved the family from New York to Michigan, settling in Ionia county in 1836. in territorial days, but three years after the founding of the town of Ionia. He bought a tract of "Congress land" five miles west of Tonia and there established his home. Simon Welch became at once engaged in the lumber business in this region and his business prospered from the very start. As he prospered he bought other farms in this county, besides property in Ionia, and became one of the most extensive landowners in the county. He was a Democrat and took an active part in local political affairs, but was too busy to hold office, his influence in gov- ernmental affairs being more advantageously exerted in an advisory capacity. As a road builder Simon Welch was clearly ahead of his time and this region owes much to the energy and push which he exerted in behalf of good roads hereabout in early days. He also was actively interested in advancing the cause of education and built three school houses in that part of the county over which his operations extended. He was a firm friend of the Indians and old Chief John Wabesis was a frequent and welcome visitor at the Welch home while Indians generally camped about his home, making their baskets beneath the shelter of his roof. Simon Welch's brother, Ezekiel Welch, conducted the first hotel built in Ionia, a log struc- ture, but rich in pioneer hospitality. At that time the frame house of Judge Yeoman. at lonia, seemed like a mansion to the settlers. Simon Welch also had a substantial frame house, erected on a firm foundation of boulders, and early settlers were known to drive miles out of their way to get a look at it. Simon Welch's accidental death occurred in January, 1862, and his widow survived him many years, her death occurring on August 29, 1915. she then being past ninety-six years of age. She outlived all but three of her eleven children, nine of whom lived to good ages, and but three of whom are now living. those besides Mrs. Strong being John L. and Vine P. Welch.
To Emory F. and Polly L. ( Welch ) Strong five children have been born. Frank Noble, Cassie B., Bessie Ethel, Mary Beatrice and Myrtle Grace, the latter of whom was born on December 11. 1882, died on June 20. 1900. Frank N. Strong, a well-known farmer of Easton township, married Nora Howell and has five children, Emory F., Maurice Leroy, Norman Howell, Gladys Lucille and Eldon Welch. Cassie B. Strong married William J.
308
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
Robinson, of Detroit, and has four daughters, Elva Marian, wife of Alonzo Watson, of lonia: Margaret Madaline, Isabel Frances and Ruth Naomi. Dr. Bessie E. Strong is an osteopathie physician, practicing at Ionia. Both she and her sister, Mary B., were graduated from the Des Moines Still College in 1913 and opened an office for the practice of their profession in Ionia, where Dr. Mary B. Strong died on December 22, 1915. Both these sisters were former teachers in the public schools of this county. Formerly the Strong children all were connected with a large orchestra, which for about two years held its practice meetings in the hospitable home of the Strongs. Mr. Strong is a member of the Ancient Order of Gleaners and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that organization.
JAMES DWIGHT SCOTT.
James Dwight Scott, a well-known and well-to-do farmer 'of North Plains township, this county, proprietor of a fine farm of eighty acres in the southwest part of that township, is a native son of lonia county, born on the farm where he now lives and where he has lived all his life. He was born on November 7. 1867, son of James Brown and Huldah \phina ( Taft ) Scott, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio, whose last days were spent in this county.
James B. Scott, son of John and Mary Scott, though born in Pennsyl- vania, was reared in Ohio and was nearly forty years old when he came to Michigan, locating in Ionia county, homesteading the southeast quarter sec- tion 29, in North Plains township where his son, James, is now living on the west half of that quarter. When the Civil War broke out James B. Scott enlisted in Company 1, Berdan's Sharpshooters, and served until he was honorably discharged on account of illness. He was promoted to the rank of corporal, and took part in the following battles: Mechanicsville, Cold Harbor, Fair Oaks. Savage Station, Frazier's Farm, Seven Days Bat- tles, Malvern Hill, Williamsburg, Yorktown and Gaines' Mill. After the war he married Hulda .A. Taft, who was born in Ohio and who was about fourteen years old when she came to this county with her parents, Matthew D. and Susan ( Stevens) Taft, who settled in Portland township, later mov- ing to Pewamo, where their last days were spent. James B. Scott and his wife spent the rest of their lives on their homestead farm, his death occur- ring in the fall of 1895, she surviving until November 7. 1902. They were
309
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
the parents of three children, the subject of this biographical sketch having two sisters, Susan, who married William Sherman and lives in Muir, and Minnie, wife of Edwin Reasoner, who lives on a farm east of Petosky.
James Dwight Scott was reared on the paternal farm in North Plains township. On October 14. 1890. he married Della Sherman, who was born in West Winfield, Herkimer county, New York, daughter of Adelbert and Celestia (Sponburg) Sherman, both natives of that same county. Adelbert Sherman was born on March 31, 1846, and at the age of fifteen years enlisted for service in the Union army during the Civil War as a member of Com- pany E. One Hundred and Fifty-second Regiment. New York Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for about three years, or until the close of the war. He later married in his home county and some time later came to Michigan, locating at Muir, where he followed blacksmithing the rest of his life, his death occurring in July. 1913. His widow is still living at Muir. To Mr. and Mrs. Scott one child has been born. a daughter, Laura. Mr. Scott is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and takes a warm interest in the affairs of that order.
AS NEWMAN.
Asa Newman, for many years one of the leading business men of Port- land, Ionia county, Michigan, was born in Portland township, where the town of Portland now is, youngest child of the family of nine children of Almeron and Laura (Berry) Newman.
AAlmeron Newman was born in Ontario county, New York, on February 25. 1804, and was a son of Elisha, who was born on September 4, 1774. this being as far back as the family history can be traced. Elisha Newman's wife died when his children were small and Almeron was reared in Canan- daigua. Ontario county, New York, at the home of an uncle and remained there until the time of his marriage on January 11, 1827, to Laura Berry, who was also a native of Ontario county.
In 1833 Elisha Newman, in company with his two sons, Almeron and James, came to Ionia county, and together entered a half section of land between the forks of the Looking Glass and Grand rivers, being parts of sections 27. 28. 33 and 34. They then returned to Niagara county, New York, where they had gone from Ontario county and where Almeron, who was a cloth dresser by trade, had a factory at Eighteen Mile creek, north
310
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
of Lockport, New York. In 1836 Elisha, James and Almeron Newman returned to lonia county with their families and set up a saw-mill about eighty rods from where the town of Portland was later platted and that mill was operated at intervals until in the eighties. Almeron set up a carding mill, a weaving and dressing plant and operated it himself until 1864 or 1865, when it was sold and then made into quite a factory. Almeron was for many years justice of the peace for his township and a very prominent man in his day. After the sale of his mill, he gave his time to his farm, being an extensive landowner, and to his office as justice.
Almeron and Laura ( Berry ) Newman were the parents of the follow- ing children, nine in number: Newton, born on October 21, 1828, died in 1848; Jane B., deceased, born on May 3. 1830, married Oscar Hamlin : Franklin, deceased, born in 1832: Edgar, born in 1835 and died during the Civil War: Frederick, born in 1838 and died in 1895; W. H. Harrison, born in 1840 and died in 1864: Elmina E., died in infancy: John Gardner, born in 1844 and now residing in New York City, and the youngest of the family is Asa, the immediate subject of this sketch. Almeron, father of the above named family, did much to encourage the growth and development of this section along the highest lines and left the impress of his character upon many enterprises. In politics, he was a Whig and later a Republican and served Portland township in all the offices within its bestowal. He also rep- resented Ionia county in the state Legislature of 1858 and 1859. He was a member of the Universalist church and a firm adherent to the tenets of that church. His death occurred on November 13. 1876, his wife having died on August 5 of the preceding year. He was largely instrumental in build- ing the first railroad through Portland. He was a member of the first board of trustees of the lonia & Lansing railroad which, together with the other branches first built, was consolidated into the Detroit. Lansing & Northern and later into the Detroit, Grand Rapids & Western and now is a branch of the Pere Marquette system. His brother. James, and himself donated the ground for the cemetery still being used in Portland. Almeron also gave the ground for the present high school in Portland.
Asa Newman attended the schools of Portland when a boy and later took a business course at Grand Rapids. He remained with his parents until the time of his marriage on November 17, 1875, to Effie A. Rice, who bore him two children: Anna Laura, who is the wife of 1. 1 .. Dixon, of Lansing, and Effie May, who married M. R. Gamble, of Otsego, this state. Effie (Rice) Newman departed this life on September 17, 1881, and on December 23. 1885. Mr. Newman was again married. his bride being llattie
.
311
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
C. Gale, a daughter of Paul and Malissa (Colby ) Gale, the former born in Orange county, New York, on July 19, 1829. Paul Gale came to this county in 1856 when a young man and after working here a while, returned to New York. He eventually came back to lonia county and lived the balance of his life in Portland, where he died on February 6, 1904, his wife having died when Hattie ( Mrs. Newman ) was but a little girl. Mrs. Newman is one of a family of three children, Della, her older sister, is the wife of L. L. Smith, of Portland, and the youngest child of the family died in infancy.
In 1883 Asa Newman went into the hardware business in Portland, remaining in that business until 1895 when he and a man by the name of Ormond Brown started what is known as the Wolverine Soap Factory, sell- ing out their business two years later. Mr. Newman then engaged in the coal and wood business, also the sale of building materials, such as cement, lime, brick, etc., and has given his entire time to this enterprise for the past eighteen years. Mr. Newman is a member of the order of Freemasonry through Portland Lodge No. 31, and is also a Royal Arch Mason, through Portland Chapter No. 39, as well as holding membership in Portland Council, Royal Select Masters No. 23. He has been through the chairs in all of these lodges, serving at the present time as secretary of his blue lodge, which position he has filled for the past eight years. He is also a member of the Royal Arcanum, having filled all the offices within the bestowal of that order. Both Mr. and Mrs. Newman are members of the Eastern Star and both have filled the offices possible to them within that order. Both are also members of the Universalist church and in politics he gives his support to the Repub- lican party. He is now serving his second term as justice of the peace, has been a member of the town council for seven or eight years and a member of the school board for the same length of time. He has also served as president of the village and all these offices have been filled by him in a manner to justify his constituents' faith in him. Mrs. Newman is a woman of many excellent traits and much capability and is at present president of lonia county's federation of women's clubs and has served on the board of managers of that organization.
Mr. and Mrs. Newman have three children. Gale A. was born on Jan- uary 4. 1887, and is engaged in business in Otsego, this state. Ada Belle. born on August 3, 1889, is at home now after having taken a complete course in Flint. Ada Belle is also a member of the Eastern Star. Robert Edgar, born on August 22, 1891. is in business in Portland and is, with his father, a member of the Masons. Asa Newman and his family are among the leading citizens of the community and each has done his share to raising higher the standard of refined civilization.
312
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
HON. ALBERT K. ROOF.
The Hon. Albert K. Roof. well-known attorney-at-law at Lyons, this county, former state senator from this district and for many years actively identified with the civic life of lonia county, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life. He was one of the first white children born in the village of Lyons and is now the oldlest resident, in years of continuous residence. in that town. He was born on April 6. 1841, son of Judge Adam L. and Clarissa B. ( Knox) Roof, pioneers of Lyons and for many years numbered among the most prominent and influential residents of lonia county, the former of whom served the public as judge and as legislator. was the first lawyer in lonia county and held until his death a prominent place at the bar of this section of the state.
Judge Adam L. Roof came of good old Dutch colonial stock. His grandfather, Johannes Roof, was a captain under General Herkimer during the Revolutionary War, and his uncle, John Roof. was a colonel under the same command, both having been participants in the battle of Oriskany. where General Herkimer was slain. Judge Roof's maternal grandfather, Philip VanAlstine, also was an ardent patriot in Revolutionary times. His father erected Ft. VanRensselaer, on the east bank of Canajoharie creek, in New York, and was a member of the New York Legislature in 1798. Canajoharie, New York, was the birthplace of Judge Roof. he having been born there on February 22, 1810. When eighteen years old he entered Williams College and after an attendance of two years there entered Ham- ilton College. from which institution he was graduated in 1832, his studies having been directed with particular reference to the law. In 1833 he was appointed, by Gov. William L. Marey, of New York, division quarter- master, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. on Major Schermerhorn's staff. In August. 1836, he was admitted to the bar of the supreme court of New York and in that same month he and his friend, A. F. Bell. came West, with the view of finding fame and fortune in the then rapidly developing terri- tory of Michigan. On the 28th of August they reached Jackson, then an uninviting shanty town of about fifty inhabitants. Upon landing at Mun- roe. their first objective point in Michigan, they had been advised to push on to lonia, where a government land office had shortly before been estab- lished. and at Jackson they completed their preparations for pushing on through the wilderness. Much of their journey was made by river and when they reached the Indian village of Cocoost, now the town of Lyons, in this
ALBERT K. ROOF.
ADAM L. ROOF.
313
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
county, they found the Indians in the midst of their corn dance, rejoicing over their harvest. Cocoost was an Indian settlement, covering a tract of about eleven hundred acres which the Indians had cleared in the forest. Roof and Bell set up a shanty on the hill west of the river, overlooking the Indian Village, and there established themselves in bachelor quarters. Find- ing no opportunity to practice law they took to surveying, especially the laying out of town sites, and thus projected several cities thereabout, but the only one of these ambitious projects to bear fruit was the village of Lyons, which they platted to cover the clearing made long before by the redskins. It will thus be seen that from the very first the name of Judge Roof is inseparably connected with this region, particularly with the Lyons neighborhood and with the progressive history of lonia county.
Adam L. Roof was the first lawyer in lonia county and for some years the only one. The year after his arrival here Michigan was admitted as a state and a great impetus was given to the business at the Ionia land office. Having given particular attention to the study of land-office law at college, Judge Roof's services were of conspicuous value to the settlers hereabout and many a knotty question of law with relation to entries and co-related points was satisfactorily settled by him. Two years after coming here he married and in 1842 was appointed prosecuting attorney. He also held nearly all the township and village offices at one time and another and was elected probate judge and register of deeds, in which capacity he was enabled to render a valuable service to the pioneers hereabout. During the sessions of 1845. 1849 and 1850 Judge Roof represented this district in the lower house of the Michigan General Assembly and during this session of 1850 and 1852 occupied a seat in the state Senate from this district.
It was in October, 1838, that Adam L. Roof was united in marriage 10 Clarissa Knox, who at that time was teaching school at Portland, this county, she having been the first school teacher in that village. She was born in St. Lawrence county, New York, daughter of John and Sally (Moore ) Knox, the former of whom was a distant kinsman of Gen. Henry Knox, of Revolutionary fame, and a direct descendant of John Knox, the great Scotch reformer. The Knox family came to this county in 1836. first settling at the west edge of the present village of Lyons, but which then was the Indian village of Cocoost. but later moved to the southwest corner of Portland township, where they established their home. Judge Roof was a man of much strength of character and was a powerful influence for good hereabout in an early day, the causes of good government education, tem- perance, morality and religion ever receiving his earnest support. He died
314
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
on January 26, 1885, and his widow survived until July 25, 1902, she being eighty-three years of age at the time of her death.
Albert K. Roof grew to manhood in the village of Lyons and to a remarkable degree his life paralleled that of his father. He early displayed a preference for the law and his father encouraged him by sending him to the Michigan State University. at Ann Arbor, from the law department of which institution he was graduated in 1865 and succeeded his father in the practice of his chosen profession, continuing in active practice in this and neighboring counties until his practical retirement some years ago, since which time he has devoted his whole attention to the interests connected with his property and that of his sisters. Mr. Roof's life has been one of singular activity in the public service. He was elected successively to all the village and township offices; was elected register of deeds for Ionia county, and in 1878 and again in 1886 was chairman of the county board of supervisors. During the sessions of the General Assembly in 1871-72 he represented this district in the lower house of the Legislature and in 1887 and 1888 occupied a seat in the Senate. He was a member of the House when the appropriation was made for the erection of the present state cap- itol. In 1889 Mr. Roof was united in marriage to Mrs. Lou ( Bingay ) Rudgers, who died two years later withone issue. Mr. Roof is a Royal Arch Mason and takes an active interest in the affairs of that ancient order.
CLARENCE GARFIELD WINCHELL. D. D. S.
Dr. Clarence Garfield Winchell, well-known and popular dentist of Ionia, this county, is a native son of lonia and has lived here all his life. Ile was born on February 25, 1880, son of Monroe B. and Caroline M. ( Moffitt ) Winchell, well-known and prominent residents of lonia. further and fitting mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume, and was reared amid conditions favorable to the cultivation of a true taste and an accurate estimate of social values. Upon completing the course in the lonia public schools he determined to devote his life to the practice of dental surgery and with that end in view entered the Chicago Dental College in 1900, being graduated from that excellent institution in 1903, with the degree of Doctor of Dental Surgery. Thus admirably equipped for the practice of his chosen profession, Doctor Winchell returned to his home in lonia and opened an office in that city, where he ever since has been engaged
315
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
in practice. The Doctor is regarded as one of lonia's most progressive citizens and is devotedly attached to his home town, promoting in all proper ways such movements as are calculated to advance the best interests of the city. He is a member of the city school board and acting in that capacity has done a good work in behalf of the public schools.
In 1905 Dr. Clarence G. Winchell was united in marriage to Helen Louise Eddy, who was born in Berlin township, this county, daughter of James P. and Elfleda (Dodge ) Eddy, prominent residents of this county, now and for years past residents of lonia, and to this union four children have been born, Fleda Caroline, Horace Lorenzo, Leah Helen and Esther Louise. Doctor and Mrs. Winchell have proved themselves helpful and useful members of society in and about lonia and give due attention to the various social and cultural activities of the community. Doctor Winchell is a Mason and a Knight Templar and is a member of the lonia lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in the affairs of which organ- izations he takes a warm interest.
Mrs. Winchell's father. James P. Eddy, was born in Berlin township. this county, in 1857, son of Andrew Jackson and Frances Louise ( Austin ) Eddy. the former of whom came to this section of Michigan when a boy with his parents, Abraham and Cynthia ( Phillips ) Eddy, who emigrated from New York state and drove into the then wilds of lonia county with an ox-team, locating in Berlin township and establishing their home at the point where the Eddy school house is now located, where they spent the remainder of their lives, being numbered among the foremost pioneers of that neighborhood. On that pioneer farm in the woods Andrew J. Eddy grew to manhood. He traded a yoke of steers for an eighty-acre tract of land in the neighborhood of his father's home and a colt for an adjoining "forty," and thus prepared for the creation of a home married Frances Louise Austin, daughter of Daniel Austin and wife, pioneers of that section of the county, and set up an establishment for himself, becoming in due time one of the well-to-do farmers of that community. He and his wife reared their family and spent the rest of their lives on their home farm in Berlin township. Their son, James P. Eddy, began to shift for himself at the age of twelve and at the age of fifteen was doing a man's task, cutting timber in the big woods. At the age of twenty-two he married and began farming for himself in Berlin township. presently becoming the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and twenty acres. His wife, Elfleda Dodge, was born in Laingsburg. Shiawassee county, this state, in 1863. daughter of Horace P.
316
IONIA COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
and Ilelen L. ( Phelps) Dodge, the former of whom, a harness-maker at Laingsburg, had come to Michigan from Lorain county, Ohio, and the latter was the first white girl born in Shiawassee county. After living on his farm for about ten years James P'. Eddy moved with his family to Ionia. where he ever since has been quite successfully engaged in the live-stock business.
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.