USA > Michigan > Ionia County > History of Ionia County, Michigan : her people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 46
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It was while still engaged in farm enterprises that John A., father of the subject of this review, and his uncle, Jack Webber, opened a retail meat market in Elmira, resorting to this means of disposing of the surplus amount of sheep and other animals on the farm, not being able to obtain paying prices otherwise. It was while thus engaged in Elmira that John A. met and married Mary E. Mason, a daughter of George W. and Mary (Collingwood) Mason, Mr. Mason being editor and proprietor of the lead-
JOHN A. WEBBER.
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GX AHD MILUEN FOUNDATIONE
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ing newspaper in Elmira at that time. John A. Webber was married on June 5. 1806, and continued to reside in Elmira for a short time. For a time he was trans-shipping clerk for the Bloss Coal Mining & Railroad Company at Watkins, New York (where Lorenzo was born), but left the employ of that company to come to Portland, this county, to establish the banking firm of 1. Webber & Son, his father being associated with him, and under that firm style the business was conducted until the death of the elder Lorenzo Webber in 1884. John A. Webber continued the business alone until when Lorenzo was admitted to partnership, and from 1891 until 1908 the firm name was John A. Webber & Son, but since January, 1908. it has been known as the Webber State Savings Bank.
Lorenzo Webber is the eldest of a family of four children. A brother, George Mason, born April 28, 1872, died on February 11, 1891 ; Charles, June 9, 1875, is also dead, passing away on January 29, 1876; Christine, the youngest, July 18, 1878, and is the wife of James A. Latta, of Minne- apolis. Minnesota. John A. Webber died March 26, 1905, being the active head of the banking business up to the time of his death. In addition to that business, he had accumulated about nine hundred acres of farming lands in this county and left considerable estate to his heirs.
Lorenzo Webber received his elementary education in the Portland schools, later studying at the Liggett Home and Day School in Detroit. From there he went to Phillips Academy at Andover, from which institu- tion he was graduated in 1889, when he matriculated at Harvard. He con- tinued his studies there for two years, and was called home in 1891 by the death of his brother, George, who had been assisting in the bank, and has himself given his undivided attention to that enterprise since that time.
Lorenzo Webber was married September 27, 1899, to Dora Alice Stone, daughter of William Harvey and Flora ( Wilkes ) Stone, and to their union has been born a family of four children, Charlotte Elizabeth, John A., and Christine are attending the Portland schools, while Constance, the youngest, is not yet of school age. Mr. Webber is a member of the ancient order of Free and Accepted Masons, through Portland Lodge. No. 31, having served as treasurer thereof for several years. He holds his religious membership in the First Congregational church of Portland, has been treasurer of that body for several years and is now also deacon. Politically, he gives his sup- port to the Republican party and filled two three-year terms as a member of the school board. He is one of the progressive men of this county, a man who realizes fully his obligation in all walks of life and fulfills his «luties to the best of his ability.
( 30a )
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CLYDE A. KNAPP.
Clyde A. Knapp, a well-known young manufacturer, member of the progressive firm of E. J. Knapp & Company, manufacturers of paint, at Belding, a former alderman of the city of Belding, a member of the Board of Commerce of that city and in other ways interested in the development of his home city, is a native son of lonia county, having been born in the town of Smyrna, in Otisco township, this county, June 19, 1880, son of E. J. and Jeannette ( Hayes ) Knapp, well-known residents of this county, the former of whom was born in Wayne county, New York, and the latter in this county. for years prominent residents of Belding. When Jeannette Hayes was a child her father died and her mother married Charles Northway.
E. J. Knapp was born on July 16, 1850, and was reared on a farm in Wayne county, New York, where he lived until he was twenty-three years of age, at which time he came to Michigan, settling in fonia county, and shortly thereafter married Jeannette Hayes, who was born in this county, member of one of the pioneer families of the Smyrna neighborhood. For a short time after his marriage Mr. Knapp made his home in Smyrna and then moved onto a farm in Otisco township, where he lived for five years, at the end of which time he went to Coopersville, Michigan, where for a short time he was engaged in the milling business. He then went to Grand Rapids and for ten years resided there, during which time he was engaged as a traveling salesman, a part of the time for a machine company and then for a paint company. While employed by the latter concern he acquired a thorough knowledge of the paint business and in 1895 returned to this county. locating at Belding, where he established a plant for the manufacture of paint and has been thus engaged very successfully ever since. E. J. Knapp & Company, composed of E. J. Knapp, C. A. Knapp and L. M. Berry, makes a specialty of its widely-known "Wolverine Elastic" paint, a heat- and acid-resisting product, designed particularly for roofs, structural iron, smoke-stacks and the like, and does a large business.
To E. J. Knapp and wife four children; have been born, Clyde ... Edith M .. Clifford H. and Clayton 11. Clyde A. Knapp attended school at Belding. He has been associated with his father in the paint works ever since 1905. He has long taken an active part in the city's business life and is an influential member of the Belding Board of Commerce. He is a Republican and for four years served as a member of the board of alder- men, representing the second ward. On April 3, 1916, he was elected
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mayor of Belding. He is a Mason, a member of Belding Lodge No. 355, Free and Accepted Masons, and a member of Fortuna Lodge No. 120, Knights of Pythias, which latter lodge he has served as vice-chancellor. In 1907 Clyde A. Knapp was united in marriage to Helen E. Wright. Mrs. Knapp is a member of the Congregational church and the Order of the Eastern Star and both she and Mr. Knapp take a proper part in the city's various social and cultural activities.
FRED L. SPENCER.
Fred L. Spencer, president of the Spencer Electric Light and Power Company, supervisor of the first ward of Belding, this county, and for years one of the best-known citizens of that city, is a native son of Mich- igan, having been born on a pioneer farm in Jackson county, this state, April 12, 1838, son of Thomas and Jane ( De Yarmond) Spencer, both natives of Nova Scotia. Canada, the former of whom was the grandson of an Irish immigrant who settled at Halifax and the latter of French and Scottish parentage. her father having been of French descent and her mother, who was a Fletcher, having been of Scottish descent.
In 1831 Jane De Varmond accompanied her father on a trip to the Territory of Michigan and was at Detroit for a year, at the end of which time they returned to Nova Scotia and presently returned to Michigan with a party which settled in Washtenaw county, not far from Ann Arbor. One of the members of this party was Thomas Spencer and not long after their arrival in this state he and Jane De Yarmond were united in marriage. After his marriage Thomas Spencer settled at Norvell, in Jackson county, where from 1836 to 1840 be operated a saw-mill He was a skilled mill- wright and for years was one of the best-known millmen in this part of the state. In 1840 hie moved back to Washtenaw county, buying a farm near Manchester, and about a year later located at Manchester, where he was engaged as a carpenter until 1833, in which year he moved to a farm one-half mile from Vicksburg, south of Kalamazoo, but in the fall of that same year moved back north and settled on a farm in Kent county, near Lowell and .Ada, whree they lived until in June. 1846, in which month they moved into what then was Oakfield township. Kent county, where he bought a forty-acre farm and cleared it up and after this traded for one hundred and sixty acres in North Oakfieldl. also owned one hundred and twenty acres
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adjoining same, and there he erected a saw-mill. As settlers were attracted to that point the township presently was divided, and the name was changed to Spencer township, in honor of the pioneer millman, Thomas Spencer, who was elected first supervisor of the same. In 1863 the Thomas Spencer mill was destroyed by fire and Mr. Spencer then moved to Montcalmn county, where he bought a farm in Montcalm township, and in that county spent the rest of his life, his death being due to a mill accident at Langston.
Fred L. Spencer grew up to the life of the pioneer farm and the life of the big woods and from boyhood was a valuable assistant to his father. both on the farm and in the mill. He married in 1863 and in that same . year accompanied his father upon the latter's removal to Montcalm county. In association with Jackson Barr, under the firm name of Barr & Spencer. he took the contract for building the state road from Greenville to Big Rapids and after the death of his father occupied the latter's farm in Mont- calm township, where he lived until 1868, in which year he moved to Green- ville, where he engaged in the general mercantile business and was thus engaged until his wife's health failed. They then went to California, where they remained a year, afterward returning to Greenville, where they remained until 1881, in which year Mr. Spencer bought an interest in a saw- mill at Smyrna, this county, and was engaged in the milling business there until his removal to Belding in 1892. Upon his arrival in Bekling Mr. Spencer immediately entered actively into the industrial and business life of the city, one of his first acts being the organization of the Spencer Elec- tric Light and Power Company, of which he has been the president ever since its organization in 1803. When the city was organized he was elected supervisor of the first ward, then others held the office for a term of years; later he was elected again and served for ten years. He also started a lumm- ber yard at Belling and operated the same for a few years after locating there and in other ways has taken an active interest in affairs generally in that city. He is a Democrat and for years has been looked upon as one of the leaders of the party in this county.
On January 1. 1863, Fred L. Spencer was united in marriage to Judith A. Sutton, one of the four daughters of Avery and Rosamond ( Ingraham) Sutton, natives of Ontario county, New York, who moved from that state to the Lowell neighborhood, in Lake county, Indiana, where they lived for three years, at the end of which time they came to Michigan, settling in Kent county, where they spent the remainder of their lives. To Mr. and Mrs. Spencer two children have been born, daughters both. Agnes, former principal of the Belling schools, who married Charles Neland, a hardware
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merchant at lonia, and Mabel. a graduate of the Belding high school and the University of Michigan, who is now a teacher in the central high school at Grand Rapids. The Spencers are members of the Baptist church, Mr. Spencer being one of the deacons of the church and the moderator of the official board of the same.
ALBERT C. RENKES.
AAlbert C. Renkes, a well-known and enterprising young merchant of Clarksville, this county, is a native son of Michigan, having been born on a farm in Johnston township, Barry county, this state, August 23. 1892, son of William N. and Edith .A. ( Risbridger ) Renkes, both of whom were born in that same county, their respective parents having been pioneers of Barry county. William N. Renkes is the son of John Renkes and his wife is a daughter of William Risbridger. Both John Renkes and wife were natives of Germany and William Risbridger and his wife came to this coun- try from England.
William N. Renkes was reared on a pioncer farm in Barry county and followed farming as an occupation until 1909, in which year he engaged in the mercantile business at Dowling in his home county, and was thus engaged until November, 1914, when he retired from business and moved to Clarksville, this county, where he since has made his home. To him and his wife two sons were born, the subject of this sketch having an elder brother, Perey L. Renkes, who is engaged in the grocery business at St. Johns.
Albert C. Renkes received his elementary education in the district school in the neighborhood of his home in Barry county, supplementing the same by a course in the Michigan Business and Normal School at Battle Creek, after which, at the age of eighteen years, he entered his father's store as a clerk and gained a practical knowledge of the goods business. On August 19, 1912, he went to Clarksville, where he bought the grocery. dry goods and meat store of Burns & Brutton, and has ever since been engaged in business there, during which time he has considerably enlarged his stock and greatly extended his trade, being now numbered among the leading merchants of the town. Not only is he the youngest merchant in Clarksville, but he is recognized as one of the most enterprising and prog- ressive and he has created for himself a very definite place in the commercial life of that part of the county. Mr. Renkes is a Democrat and gives a good
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citizen's attention to the political affairs of the community. In 1914 he was the nominee of his party for the office of township supervisor.
On October 19, 1911, in Barry county, this state, Albert C. Renkes was united in marriage to Ethel B. Robinson, who was born in Hope township, Barry county, December 31, 1892, daughter of George A. and Cora (Ter- pening) Robinson, well-known residents of that community, and to this union one child has been born, a daughter, Donna B., born on . December 6, 1912. Mr. and Mrs. Renkes take a proper part in the various social and cultural activities of their home town are are earnest supporters of all local movements looking to the advancement of the community interest there- about. Mr. Renkes is a Mason and a member of the local lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and takes a warm interest in the affairs of those two popular organizations.
JOHN EMERSON ROSS.
John Emerson Ross, a well-known retired farmer and fruit grower of Lyons township, this county, who occupies the farm his grandfather entered from the government in the days of the early settlement of that part of lonia county, is a native son of this county, born on a farm in section 4. Lyons township, just north of his present home, May 23, 1853, son of Joshua Jay and Julia ( Nichols) Ross, both natives of the state of New York, carly residents of the northeastern part of Ionia county.
Joshua Jay Ross was born in Rensselaer county, New York, August 21, 1826, son of Joshua and Anna ( Rounds) Ross, the former of whom was born in Rhode Island, son of Joshua Ross, a sailor. The junior Joshua Ross became a stone-mason and moved to New York state, where he mar- ried Anna Rounds, who was born in Rensselaer county, that state, and there they lived, Joshua Ross pursuing his vocation as a mason, until 1836, when he moved to Yates county with his family and began farming. In 1846 Joshua Ross and his family came to Michigan and settled in lonia county. The head of the family bought a tract of land in section 5. Lyons township. and had started considerable improvements on the same when death caused a cessation of his labors in 1851. Ilis widow survived him for some years, she being seventy years of age at the time of her death. They were the parents of nine children, four sons and five daughters, of whom Joshua Jay Ross was the eldest. He was ten years old when his parents moved from
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Rensselaer county to western New York and was twenty years of age when the family came to this county.
On September 10, 1850, Joshua J. Ross was united in marriage, at her home in Lyons, this county, to Julia Nichols, who was born in Yates county, New York, February 3. 1829, daughter of John and Julia ( McCloud) Nichols, the former of whom was born in Germany and the latter in the state of New York. Following his marriage Mr. Ross bought for the sum of one hundred dollars, forty acres of land in section 4. Lyons township, and there he established his home. To this he later added by the purchase of adjoining tracts until he was the owner of an excellent farm of one hundred and ten acres. He was active in the work of organizing the social life of his home community and employed the first teacher and helped to organize the first school in his home district, sending his eldest child, the subject of this sketch, to school when four years old, in order to swell the attendance on the same. He and his wife were members of the Presbyterian church at Muir, he being one of the trustees of the church, and were active in all good works in their neighborhood, being early recog- nized as among the leaders in the social life of that community. Joshua Jay Ross died in 1898 and his widow, who still survives him at the age of eighty-seven years, is making her home with her son, John E. Five children were born to her and her husband, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eklest, the others being E. Medora, widow of W. C. Ely; Eugene J., who lives at Alma; Lennie, now deceased, who was the wife of George Corbin, and Charles E., of Tonia.
John E. Ross grew up on the paternal farm in Lyons township and after his marriage in 1876 continued to aid in the operation of the same until 1881, in which year he bought forty acres of the farm which his grandfather had bought from the government and which has always been in the family, and there he has ever since made his home. He improved that place and bought adjoining land until he became the owner of one hundred and ten acres, all of which he since has sold save the original forty, on which he still lives, though he has rented the fields and has lived practically retired from the active labors of the farm since 1910. Mr. Ross's mother also still owns forty acres of the original Ross farm, which has never been out of the possession of the family. Mr. Ross is a Repub- lican and gives a good citizen's attention to local political affairs. He has taken much interest in educational matters and has held school offices most of the time for many years.
In 1876 John E. Ross was united in marriage to Lottie M. Segog, who
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was born in Dunkirk, New York, daughter of John and Elizabeth Segog, the former of whom, a railroad man, was killed in a railway accident in New York in 1872, after which his widow and her son, George, and daugh- ter, Lottie, came to Michigan and located at Palo, this county, where George Segog died, after which the widowed mother made her home with her daugh- ter, Mrs. Ross. To Mr. and Mrs. Ross four sons have been born, namely : George E., who married Lottie Dick and lives in Orleans township; Lester V .. a farmer living north of Muir, married Catherine Culbertson and has a son, Culbertson Ross: Fred J., a foundryman at Greenville, married Jen- nie Krueger and has two children, Clifford and Mildred, and Alton, who is at home.
MAJOR FRANK R. CHLASE.
Major Frank R. Chase, one of the most prominent and influential business men of Smyrna, is a native son of Michigan, a fact of which he has never ceased to be proud, having been born at Napoleon, Jackson county, August 12, 1839. He is the son of Rev. Norman G. and Lucinda ( Carroll ) Chase, the former a native of Vermont and the latter of Connecticut, whose last days were spent at Symrna, this county.
Rev. Norman G. Chase was born at Guilford, Vermont, May 6, 1802, and in his early youth was apprenticed for three years to a merchant at New Haven, Massachusetts, to serve as a clerk, at twenty dollars a year. He was a studious and thoughtful lad and early decided to enter the gospel ministry. In due time he entered Alta Theological Seminary, now Colgate University, at Hamilton, New York, from which he graduated and later was ordained as a minister of the Baptist church at Smithville, New York. On May 5, 1831, Rev. Norman G. Chase was united in marriage to Lucinda Carroll, a select school teacher at Springfield, New York, a young woman of wide accomplishments, who was then owner and principal of a select school at Smithville, New York. She was born at Thompson, Connecticut, June 3. 1801. Norman G. Chase was pastor of the United Baptist church at Smith- ville, New York, at the time of his marriage, and where the first child was born, and at Boonville, New York, where it was buried and where the second child was born. Then at Herkimer, New York: then at Michigan City, Indiana, where the third child was born, and where the two children were buried. Then at Napoleon, Jackson county, Michigan ; then at Howell. where he retired from the ministry on account of ill health from a fever.
MAJOR FRANK R. CHASE.
THE NEW YORK THIS LIBRARY
4. I LEN FEUNFIT ONF
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sore and stiff limbs, which he carried to the day of his death. In 1844 he came to lonia county and was located at Smyrna, where he operated a general store, until 1863, when he retired from active business. His death occurred on June 24. 1884. His wife had preceded him to the grave many years, her death having occurred on March 10, 1868. To them four chil- dren were born, three of whom died in infancy, the subject of this review being the last and only survivor.
Frank R. Chase was about five years okl when his parents came to this county and was reared at Smyrna. In addition to the schooling he secured in the local schools, he received careful training under the direction of his cultured parents, and at the age of sixteen had prepared for college. After a course of forty-eight weeks at Kalamazoo College, he entered the Michi- gan Agricultural College and after a course there of eight months began teaching school and was thus engaged during the winter of 1856-50. He then entered the Commercial College at Kalamazoo, from which he was graduated, and at the age of twenty-one was given an interest in the gen- eral store with his father at Smyrna, where he entered upon his commercial career, being thus engaged when the Civil War broke out.
At the age of twenty-two Frank R. Chase was commissioned by Gov- ernor Blair to recruit a company for the Twenty-fifth Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and in thirteen days he had accomplished the remark- able task of recruiting one hundred and fourteen men, this company being raised within a radius of ten miles about Smyrna. In this noble band there were nine pairs of brothers, and from one family three sons had enlisted. Forty-five of the company were relatives and sixty-two of the members were married men. Mr. Chase, the recruiting officer, was unanimously elected captain of the company, but, on account of his youth and inexperi- ence in military tactics, he declined to accept the office, preferring to remain as a private. He was then elected first lieutenant of the company and went to the front with that rank, serving with his company and regiment until November. 1863. Being then disabled for field service, he was commis- sioned by Abraham Lincoln and was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps and made adjutant of the Eighteenth Regiment. In April, 1864. the field and staff of the regiment were ordered from the West to Washington, D. C., and there given a new regiment of the Veteran Reserve Corps, im- mediately entering the field with Grant's campaign of 1864. After the battles of the Wilderness, Cokl Harbor, White House and other notable engagements of that campaign, to City Point, the regiment was returned to Washington, D. C., in time to oppose Early's raid, on the national capi-
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tal. At the close of the war, Major Chase was assigned to duty in the fifth military district, at New Orleans, under General Sheridan, being promoted to captain and brevet-major, and thereafter served on the staffs of Generals Baird, Gregg, Mower, Sheridan and Buchanan, retaining his position until, his resignation in 1868, he then having served continuously for a period of more than six years. Major Chase was never absent from his company, regiment or brigade when it was under fire, and was twice wounded.
Since the war Major Chase has always taken a close interest in the affairs of his former comrades in arms and is one of the best-known men in the ranks of the Grand Army of the Republic in Michigan. He was a charter member and was elected first commander of Dan S. Root Post No. 126, Grand Army of the Republic, when that patriotic organization was established at Belding on April 14. 1883, and has since been elected com- mander twenty-three times, still serving as head of that post. He was aide on the staff of Department Commanders Dean, Kield, Dabol, Pealer, Hop- kins and Foote, inspector under Department Commander Van Raalte, depart- ment chief of staff under five department commanders, AAllen, Lawrence, Stone, Spillare and Strong, and in 1913, at the encampment at Lansing, was elected department commander for the term of 1913-14. In the affairs of the national department of the Grand Army of the Republic, Major Chase has been hardly less prominent than in the affairs of the state department. On several occasions he has been elected delegate to the national encampment from the Michigan state department; also member of the national council of administration. In 1914, during the administration of Washington Gard- ner, commander-in-chief, Major Chase was honored by being appointed national chief of staff, and in other ways his devotion to the interests of the great patriotic organization has been rewarded by his comrades.
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