USA > Michigan > Ionia County > History of Ionia County, Michigan : her people, industries and institutions, Volume II > Part 6
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At the time Jay Olmsted died his land holdings were divided, and to Louis N. Olmsted, then a lad of twelve, was apportioned a tract of one hundred and seventy-five acres, one hundred and forty acres of which was situated in the northeastern corner of Ionia township and the remainder in the adjoining township of North Plains and Lyons. When he was sixteen years old Louis N. Olmsted had a house erected on this farm and there he and his mother lived together until the latter's death in 1876. In 1872 Mr. Olm- sted married Lizzie S. Hayes, who was born in Ionia township, this county. in October, 1855. daughter of George Jewett and Frances Jane (Stone) Hayes, prominent pioneer residents of this county, whose last days were spent at Muir.
George J. Hayes was born at South Bristol, Ontario county, New York. September 26, 1831, son of Hector and Lucinda Hayes, the pioneers with whom Jay Olmsted entered lonia county in 1836, and was about five years
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old when the perilous trip was made through the forests from Detroit, the family having reached the latter point by steamboat from Buffalo. He grew up on the pioneer farm and from boyhood was a close companion of the Indians who still inhabited this country in considerable numbers, and during the early days his services as an interpreter were called into requisition at the agency at Grand Rapids. Ile spent two years attending the okl academy at Grand Rapids and then for some time was employed as a clerk in a drug store in that city. In 1853 George J. Hayes married Frances Stone, who was born at Orangeville, New York, in 1834, and who had come to this county with her parents, Darias and Mahala Stone, in 1846, the family settling on a farm of four hundred acres northeast of Ionia. Soon after his marriage Mr. Hayes established his home in section 11, Ionia township, where he pro- ceeded to reclaim a farm from the wilderness, and there he and his wife lived for fifty-three years, after which they retired from the farm and moved . to Muir, where George J. Hayes, after fifty-five years of married life, died on November 6, 1909. His widow survived him about four years, her death occuring on October 12, 1913. Both were earnest members of the Church of Christ and their lives were marked by good works.
After his marriage Louis N. Olmsted made his home on the farm where he had started as a boy and there he and his wife lived for forty-two years, at the end of which time they retired from the farm and are now living at Ionia, where they are comfortably situated. Mr. Olmsted has been a very successful farmer and stock breeder. In the latter line he has made a specialty of Shorthorn Durham cattle and pure-bred Oxforddown sheep, hav- ing begun the breeding of the latter in November, 1886, when there were only one thousand two hundred and thirty-two of that now celebrated breed recorded in the herd book, his first Oxforddown sire having been No. 1232. When he left the farm he had a herd of about two hundred recorded sheep.
To Louis N. and Lizzie S ( Hayes ) Ohsted four children have been born, two sons and two daughters. The sons, George Ney and Ernest Pliny, both died within two weeks of each other, in 1880, the former then being six years okl and the latter three years old. The first daughter, Ernanie Mary, now the wife of Foss O. Eldred, a well-known attorney-at- law, of Jonia, was born on November 27, 1889, nine years after the death of the little boys. The second daughter. Erminie Lizzie, was born on March II, 1901, is now a student in the lonia high school. Mr. Olmsted is a Knights Templar Mason and a member of the Ancient Arabic Order. Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and of the Knights of the Maccabees.
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SHELDON R. CURTISS.
Sheldon R. Curtiss, a retired farmer living in Saranac, Boston town- ship, this county, was born in Lorain county, Ohio, April 22, 1839, the son of R. J. and Lydia ( Potter ) Curtiss, the former of whom was born in Hart- ford, Connecticut, and the latter in Lorain county, Ohio.
R. J. Curtiss attended school at his home near Hartford and when a young man moved with his parents to Ohio, where they settled in Lorain county. There he was reared as a farmer, married and prospered. In 1853 R. J. Curtiss came to lonia county, Michigan, and located in Berlin township, where he lived the remainder of his life. He was active in politics and served as justice of the peace in Berlin township. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which Mr. Cur- tiss was a class leader for many years. He died on his farm in Berlin township, and his wife, Lydia ( Potter ) Curtiss, died at Saranac, this county. Mr. and Mrs. R. J. Curtiss were the parents of seven children, two of whom are living in 1916: William H., of Saranac, and Sheldon R., the subject of this sketch.
Sheldon R. Curtiss secured a good elementary education in the public schools of Lorain county, Ohio, and also in lonia county, after which he assisted his father with the work on the farm. He was fourteen years old when the family moved to Michigan and settled in Berlin township. When Mr. Curtiss was twenty-one years old he was married and started farming for himself. Two years later the Civil War begun and Sheldon R. Cur- tiss enlisted in Company M, Sixth Michigan Cavalry, in which he served to the close of the war. He was captured by the Confederates in Virginia and was confined at different times in four Southern prisons for six months. In the chapter headed "Sidelights" in this volume Mr. Curtiss relates the horrors of his prison experiences with a vividness that leaves nothing to the imagination. At the close of the war Mr. Curtiss returned to his home in this county and resumed his occupation of farming, in which he was actively engaged until 1902, when he retired and removed to the village of Saranac. where he has lived ever since.
On May 10, 1860, Sheldon R. Curtiss was married to Abigail N. Barnard, who was born on January 7. 1840, in Cattaraugus county, New York. Her parents came to Michigan in 1854 and located on a farm in Berlin township, this county, where Abigail Barnard attended the district school and was reared on the farm. Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon R. Curtiss are
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the parents of seven children, as follow: Rosalia E., the wife of F. E. Stowell, of Lowell: Lillian A., the wife of John C. Smith, a farmer in Ber- lin: Arthur W. is in business at Saranac: Della, the wife of Edward E. Mains, of Valparaiso, Indiana: Edith C., the wife of Fred Mains, an attor- ney in Chicago, Illinois: Gilbert J., a farmer in Berlin township, this county; Evelyn G., wife of Harvey Lowery, superintendent of schools of lonia county, and living at Saranac.
Mr. Curtiss is a Republican and is now serving as justice of the peace of Boston township. He is a member of Post No. 153. Grand Army of the Republic. Both Mr. and Mrs. Curtiss are active workers in the Methodist Episcopal church. They have many friends in this neighborhood by whom they are held in high esteem.
HENRY J. HALL.
Henry J. Hall, one of the best-known retired farmers of lonia county. a man who for many years has been actively interested in the public life of this community, and who in 1904 retired from the active labors of the farm and has since been living in a pleasant suburban home at the north edge of lonia, where he and his good wife on April 12, 1916, celebrated their golden wedding anniversary, is a native son of this county and has lived here all his life. He was born on a pioneer farm in lonia township, August 28, 1843. son of Joshua S. and Sarah A. ( Haight ) Hall, further details of whose history in this county are set out in a memorial sketch relating to the late Joshua S. Hall, presented elsewhere in this volume.
Henry J. Hall was reared on the parental farm in Ionia township and remained there until he was fifteen years of age. Then the family moved to Orleans township. The day after he had attained his majority he began working on his own behalf, for some time being employed on neighboring farms. In the spring of 1866 he married and established his home on a farmi of ninety-eight acres he had bought in section 36 of Orleans township, this county, and there he made his home continuously until his retirement from the farm in the spring of 1904, long having been regarded as one of the most substantial and influential farmers of that part of the county. Not long after entering upon possession of that farm, Mr. Hall bought an adjoining "forty." part of which he later sold, but presently bought an adjoining traet of forty-three aeres and thus became owner of a little more than one hundred and sixty acres, which he improved and tilled to such
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advantage that it long was looked upon as one of the most attractive farms in the county. In addition to his general farming, Mr. Hall was extensively engaged in stock raising and became quite well circumstanced. In the spring of 1904 he and his wife retired from the farm and moved to their present pleasant home on the state road just north of lonia, in Easton town- hip, where they are very comfortably situated. Surrounding his fine, modern house there Mr. Hall has three and one-half acres of well-kept grounds and has a delightful suburban home.
Mr. Hall has been an unfaltering Republican from the very beginning of his participation in political affairs and voted the ticket just forty years in Orleans township. For eight years he served the people of that town- ship as justice of the peace and also served one term as drainage commis- sioner from his district. When Banner Grange No. 640 was organized in Orleans township in 1880 Mr. Hall was one of the charter members of the same, and was elected its first master. He also served the Grange as secre- tary-treasurer and lecturer, and for five years was purchasing agent. He also served as master and overseer of the county grange, for years giving his active and interested attention to the affairs of the same. It is a note- worthy fact that Mr. Hall and his son. Guy .A., took the sixth degree in the national body. Mrs. Hall also became a charter member of the Grange. which she served as secretary for some time, and was influential in securing many members for that organization during the height of its activities in this county. Mr Hall, also, was one of the directors of the Ionia District Agricultural Society and for some time served as treasurer of his old home township. He and his wife have traveled quite a bit, having made trips to both coasts and from Canada to the Gulf ; have attended several international expositions and have visited twenty-two states of the Union. On April 12. 1916, they celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage, and despite the growing weight of years continue to take a warm interest in current affairs.
It was on April 12, 1866, that Henry J. Hall was united in marriage to Cordelia M. Higbee, who was born in Orleans township, this county, daughter of Benjamin F. and Laura M (Goodwin) Higbee, both natives of New York state, who came to Michigan in June, 1838, settling in Orleans township. this county, where they became recognized as among the most substantial pioneers of that community. Benjamin F. Highee was a son of Erastus Hig. bee and wife, who with their other sons came here at the same time, the father and the three sons entering four eighty-acre tracts of "Congress land" in Orleans township. At that time there were but two houses between lonia and
-
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the cabins they erected on their homesteads. Benjamin F. Higbee farmed there for years, but later in life engaged in the insurance business, though con- tinuing to make his home in Orleans township. His wife was but fourteen years of age when she was married. Both were active members of the Bap- tist church and were among the leaders in all good works in their neighbor- hood. Both lived to ripe old ages and were separated by death but one day more than one month, Mr. Higbee dying on April 1, 1908, and Mrs. Highee dying on May 2, following, they having lived to celebrate nearly sixty- five wedding anniversaries.
To Henry J. and Cordelia M. ( lligbee ) Hall two children have been born, Ray, born on April 17, 1875, died in 1882, when seven years old, and Guy A., born on November 23, 1869, is a resident of Detroit, where he is engaged in business for himself, who is married and has three children. Ethel Eldon and Ione. Mr. and Mrs. Hall are members of the Disciples church, joining same in 1861 at Woodard, Lake Ronald township, and remained members of that church until they moved to their present home, at which time they joined the church in lonia. They take a warm interest in the various local beneficences of the same.
JOHN R. HAY. M. D.
Standing high among the members of the medical profession of this county is Dr. John R. Hay, who during nineteen years of able and con- scientious practice has won the confidence and respect of all who know him. John R. Hay was born on March 5, 1866, in Victoria county, Ontario. Canada, the son of John and Jessie (Tweedie ) Hay, both of whom were natives of Canada. John Hay was a prosperous farmer and lived in Canada all his life, dying there in 1913. Mrs. Jesse Hay is still living in the old home in Canada. John and Jessie (Tweedie ) Hay were the parents of eleven chil- dren, all of whom live in Canada except the subject of this sketch.
John K. Hay secured his elementary educational training in the public schools of his home district in Canada, and was reared on his father's farm. Later he was graduated from the Collegiate Institute at Lindsay, Ontario. after which he taught school for three years in Canada. He entered the medical department of Trinity University, where he spent three years, and was graduated from the Michigan College of Medicine and Surgery at De- troit in 1897, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. Doctor Hay came
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immediately to this county and located at Pewamo, where he practiced his profession from 1897 to 1909, when he moved to Saranac and has been established here ever since.
On December 27, 1900, John R. Hay was married to Emma Clark, who is a native of Canada. She was reared in Canada and is a graduate of the high school in her home district. Mrs. Hay is a member of the Congrega- tional church and is active in all the good works of this denomination.
Doctor Hay is a Republican and takes a good citizen's interest in politics. but has never aspired to office. He is a member of Boston Lodge No. 146, Free and Accepted Masons, and Lyons Chapter No. 60, Royal Arch Masons. He is also affiliated with the Knights of the Maccabees. Doctor and Mrs. Ilay have a large part in the social and cultural life of this community.
STEPHEN M. CRAWFORD.
Stephen M. Crawford was born on January 5, 1852, at Springport, Jack- son county, Michigan, the son of Stephen B. and Malinda B. ( Burroughs ) Crawford. Stephen B. Crawford was born in New Hampshire, and was of Scotch descent. He was reared in the Green Mountain state. When twenty- one years of age he made a trip to the West, traveling through Michigan and on to Chicago, when that place was only a small town. From Chicago he worked his way to New Orleans and a little later returned to his old home in New Hampshire. Subsequently, he made a second trip to Michigan, when he located at Adrian, and after a short stay there moved to Jackson county. where he was married and where he entered a tract of government land. Stephen B. Crawford added to his land holdings and presently was the owner of three hundred acres of land in Jackson county. About 1864 he moved to AAlbion, this state, where he died at the age of eighty-two years. His wife also died at Albion. She was a member of the Baptist church. Mr. Crawford was a man of high moral character and aided all his children to secure a good education.
Mr. and Mrs. Stephen B. Crawford were the parents of four children. three of whom grew to maturity and two are living in 1916. Allen is a farmer on the old home farm in Jackson county, and Stephen M .. the subject of this sketch.
Stephen M. Crawford attended the common schools and was reared on the farm, completing his educational training at Albion College. While he
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was still a young man he went to Detroit and secured employment as a sewing machine salesman, and later was engaged in the same business in Chicago. Returning to Detroit he had charge of an agency for the Howe Sewing Machine Company, and was in this business about seven years in all. Later he went to Chicago, traveling and collecting from his headquarters in that city.
In 1875 Mr. Crawford came to lonia county and located at Saranac, where he was engaged in the hardware business for the following twenty-five years, starting in company with a Mr. Benson, under the firm name of Benson & Crawford. Mr. Benson died in 1881 and Mr. Crawford carried on the business by himself until 1900, when he sold out and turned Mr. Benson's share of the proceeds over to his heirs.
Mr. Crawford was the leading spirit in the organization of the Saranac State Bank, which was established in 1900. He has been president since its organization. The bank has been very successful and has paid good divi- dends to the stockholders. Mr. Crawford has made a good record as a banker and has the confidence of the people as well as of his associates. Aside from his interest in the bank, Mr. Crawford has accumulated considerable prop- erty, being the owner of real estate in Saranac and Grand Rapids, Michigan.
On December 23, 1880, Stephen M. Crawford was married to Flora B. Cooper, who was born on November 4. 1855, in Genesee county, New York, and came with her parents to Michigan when she was a girl. The Coopers settled in Oakland county, Michigan, later moving to Pontiac and Flint, where Flora B. Cooper secured her education. She came to Saranac in 1877, three years before her marriage.
Mr. and Mrs. Crawford are the parents of one child, a daughter, Lua R., who was born on September 27. 1882. She attended the common schools and was graduated from the high school at Saranac, and the high school at lonia. She taught school for two years and later attended the Yysilanti Normal College, in which institution she became a teacher, having classes in draw- ing. designing and English. She was graduated from the Pratt Institute of Applied Art, at Brooklyn, New York, after which she taught in the Cleveland. Ohio, technical high school for three years, and is now teaching in the Dickinson technical high schools at Jersey City, New Jersey, having under her supervision eight teachers.
Mr. and Mrs. Crawford are not members of any certain denomination, but are liberal supporters of various churches. Mr. Crawford is a Demo- crat, and has served as president of the village council, also on the school board and was justice of the peace for eight years. He is a member of Boston
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Lodge No. 46, Free and Accepted Masons, and is past master of the lodge, Hooker Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, and lonia Council, Royal and Select Masters, of which he is past chancellor. Both Mr. and Mrs. Crawford are members of the Order of the Eastern Star. Mrs. Crawford takes a promi- nent part in the Ladies' Literary Club of Saranac and is also an associate member of the Ladies' Literary Club of lonia. The Crawford home is the center of much genial hospitality, and Mr. and Mrs. Stephen M. Crawford have made many friends during their long and useful residence in this county.
PERRY H. STEBBINS.
An advocate of modern methods of agriculture is Perry H. Stebbins. one of the progressive farmers and stock raisers of Easton township. lonia county, who was born here on October 2, 1874. He is a son of George and Eleanor ( Hardenburgh ) Stebbins. The father was born on March 11. 1840, in Clinton county, Michigan, and his death occurred in Ionia, January 17, IOTI, at the age of seventy years. He was a son of Chauncey and Sophia ( Rice ) Stebbins. Chauncey Stebbins was born in Massachusetts in 1807, and was a son of Chester and Nancy Stebbins. He and Sophia Rice were married in 1827. She was born in Conway county, Massachusetts. in 1809, and was a daughter of Benjamin and Aune ( Monard) Rice. Her mother's father was a soldier in the Revolutionary War, and her own father. Benjamin Rice, served in the War of 1812. Chauncey M. Stebbins moved to lonia, Michigan, some time in the thirties, not long after the first settlement here. Hle set up a log house and log barn in a little elearing in the dense woods on land now within the city limits of lonia, later moving to Essex township, Clinton county, but returned to lonia county to live in 1844. when George Stebbins was four years old. He settled on the farm which is now the site of the reformatory, and here he spent his early life. At that time Indians were here in large numbers and he had Indian boys for playmates and learned their language. Bear. deer and other big game was abundant. George Stebbins was one of eight children, of whom only two now survive, Seymour M., of Ionia, and Chester Il., of Lakeview. Hle and Eleanor Hardenburgh were married on February 26, 1862. She was born in Kent county, Michigan, near Lowell, in a log house. She is a daughter of Aaron and Cynthia Ann ( Whipple ) Hardenburgh. The father was born in Adrian. New York, and attended college there. He came to
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Ohio in early life and was married in that state and there his wife and child died. lle was a carpenter and cabinet-maker by trade, which he learned in his native state. While in Ohio he bought land in Michigan, and came first to Jonia, later located near Lowell, where he built a large house and put out an orchard and improved his land. While living in the town of lonia. he built a number of houses, several store buildings and the first hotel. Later in life he moved to Sand Lake, near Grand Haven, where he engaged in lumbering and built and ran a shingle-mill and did a large busi- ness there. The death of Aaron Hardenburgh occurred there in 1850, when Mrs. George Stebbins was five years old, after which the widow returned to lonia with her two daughters. Elcanor and Louise, and a son, Henry. The latter was a soldier in the Civil War and died while in the service. The widow was married again, in 1854. to Sylvester Thompson. They located on a farm in Easton township, but about 1880 removed to Belding. where she died in 1907. Eleanor Hardenburgh grew to womanhood on the farm and received a common school education. She became the mother of four children, namely : May, wife of Ed. R. Rathbun, lives in Easton town- ship: Perry H .: Lyda E. is the wife of Mbert Harris, and they live in tonia; Hattie died in infancy. The mother of these children, although now past her three score and ten, is a remarkably well-preserved woman.
Aaron Hardenburgh's father came to America from Germany, with a brother, who became a soldier in the War of 1812, and for deeds of valor was promoted to colonel of his regiment. Cynthia Ann Whipple, wife of Aaron Hardenburgh. was a daughter of Zebulon Whipple, who was born in 1798. Phoebe Andrews, wife of Zebulon Whipple, was of an old and influential family of near Brattleboro, Vermont. William 1. Whipple. who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was a rela- tive of Zebulon Whipple, probably a great uncle. He was a Southern slave trader, and during the Revolutionary War he joined the American navy.
George Stebbins and wife settled on his farm in section 30, Easton township, Ionia county, in 1871, and continued to reside there for a period of forty years, with their children near them. They spent the first few years of their married life near his father's home place, west of lonia. Being among the early settlers here, he and his wife belonged to the fonia County Pioneer Society. He was a faithful member of the Methodist church all his life, and was a man of fine characteristics.
Perry H. Stebbins, the immediate subject of this sketch, grew up on the home farm. Hle received his education in the public schools and the high school at lonia. He remained on the home farm until his marriage.
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on December 2, 1896, to Mae E. Conner, who was born in Easton town- ship and was a daughter of Thomas E. and Jane ( Pike) Conner. The father was born near Brantford, Ontario, Canada. August 23. 1836. He came to Michigan in 1854. when eighteen years old, with his parents, Isaac B. and Sarah ( Darby ) Conner, the family locating in Easton township, Ionia county, and here Thomas E. spent the rest of his life, engaging in farming, owning a good farm in section 18, Easton township. His death occurred March 18, 1914, when seventy-seven years of age. Thomas E. Conner and Mary Jane Pike were married on March 25, 1860. She was born on November 9. 1838, near Brantford, Ontario, and her death occurred on November 10, 1907. the day after her sixty-ninth birthday. They were both devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
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