USA > Michigan > Monroe County > History of Monroe County, Michigan : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests Volume II > Part 20
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Samuel Campbell came to Michigan with his father in 1834, when he was three years of age, the family settling in the woods of Lenawee county, from whence Samuel Campbell moved to Milan township at the age of eighteen years. Here he married Lydia Olds, daughter of Joseph Olds, an early pioneer, and she died in 1901, having been the mother of six sons and one daughter : Frank, living in the village of Milan ; Charles E .; Albert; Alfred, deceased at twenty-four years; Minor A., of Milan township ; and Sam Peter; Agnes deceased at age of three years. Sam Campbell developed a fine farm, improved it extensively, and in 1872, erected a handsome brick residence. He is one of the highly esteemed men of his township, where he has a widespread reputation for integ- rity and honest dealing.
Sam Peter Campbell was reared on the family homestead, receiving his education in the district schools and being trained to habits of so- briety, industry and integrity. At the age of twenty-two years he was married to Miss Cynthia Edith Shaler, who was born, reared and educa- ted in Milan township, daughter of Andrew Shaler, deceased, who was a soldier during the Civil war, whose widow, Mrs. Morilla Shaler now resides on a farm in Milan township. Mrs. Shaler has three children, namely : Charles, Mrs. Campbell and Mrs. Ruby Hazen:
Mr. Campbell has a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, devoted to the growing of grain and the breeding of stock. He has a full com- plement of good farm buildings, including a handsome residence and substantial barn, and his equipment in the line of machinery and appli- ances is the best to be secured. He is known as an able agriculturist and good judge of live stock, and as a citizen always takes a foremost part in any movements calculated to be of benefit to his community or its people. In policis he is a Republican,a director of the Milan State Sav- ings Bank, at Milan, Michigan, but he has never cared for public office. He has interested himself in matters of a fraternal nature, and belongs to the Blue Lodge, No 323, Chapter No. 150, and Commandery of Masons No. 13, the latter at Ann Arbor, Michigan. His many admirable traits of character have served to draw about him a wide circle of friends, and as a man who has the best interests of his township at heart he has the respect and good will of all who know him.
WM. JOHN MCMULLEN. The agricultural interests of Monroe county, Michigan, are in charge of efficient, capable men, who have given to their labor that application of scientific effort which is bound to bring the best results. Many of these men belong to families that have been connected with farming in this section for many years, and in this
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class is John McMullen, the owner of an excellent farm of one hundred acres, in Milan township, whose parents came here more than sixty-five years ago. Mr. McMullen has been trained since earliest childhood in the principles of practical farming, and is today recognized as a man who is thoroughly capable of upholding the high standard set by the tillers of the soil in this section. Mr. McMullen is a native son of Milan township, and was born July 26, 1851. His father, William McMullen, was born in Ireland, and came to the United States as a young man, locating first in the state of New York, where he was married to Miss Essie Hines, who was born in county Fermanagh, Ireland. About the year 1845, Mr. and Mrs. McMullen migrated to the woods of Michigan, where they erected a log house in true pioneer style and there proceeded to clear a farm from the wilderness. Mr. McMullen's life was spent in clearing and cultivating this land, and at the time of his death, in his fifty-eighth year, he was one of the well-known and prosperous agri- culturists of his part of the county. His wife passed away in middle life, having been the mother of six children, namely : James H., W. J., of Milan township ; Margaret, John, Edward and Stella. Mr. McMullen was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Moreville, while his wife belonged to the Catholic faith.
Wm. John McMullen attended the district schools of Milan town- ship during the winter terms, and assisted his father and brothers in cutting timber, clearing brush and preparing the fields of the home farm for crops, in addition to splitting rails and accepting whatever honorable employment presented itself. At the age of twenty-five years he was married to Zorada McClellen, of Milan township, daughter of Benjamin McClellen, and she died, leaving two children: Lovergne, who is deceased, and Pearl, wife of Frank Draper, of Richmond, In- diana. Mr. McMullen's second marriage was to Josephine VanDyke, who still survives.
Mr. McMullen has followed agricultural pursuits throughout his ca- reer, and is now the owner of one hundred acres of good land. Gen- eral farming has claimed the greater part of his attention, but he has also met with a fair measure of success in raising cattle. He has made many improvements on his tract of one hundred acres, and has a nice farm residence, and good barn, granary and other buildings. Person- ally, he is a man of genial manner, and is possessed of a strong physique, weighing in the neighborhool of one hundred and eighty-five pounds. In political matters he is a Democrat, but outside of taking a good citi- zen's interest in all that pertains to the welfare of his township, he has not mixed in matters of a public nature. His life has been that of an honorable and upright citizen, and he enjoys the respect and esteem of the community in which he has spent his entire life.
WILLIAM HORACE B. HEATH. Monroe county, Michigan, has been singularly fortunate in securing for its representatives in official office, men of integrity, sound business principles and high standing in their several communities, and it is for this reason, perhaps, as much as for any other, that the county's affairs are in such a healthy condition at this time. It is in a large degree to the public men of any section
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that the people look for the encouragement of progress and development, and in the handling of public moneys it is desirable that men be se- lected who have reputations for solidity and unblemished character. London township and its citizens are to be congratulated that in the office of township treasurer they have such an efficient, faithful and conscientious official as Wm. H. B. Heath, whose popularity was made evident by his election on the Republican ticket in the spring of 1912, by a large majority. Mr. Heath, who has lived in this vicinity and in Washtenaw county for the past thirty years, was born in Hillsdale county, Michigan, March 26, 1864, and is a son of Horace Heath.
Horace B. Heath was born in the state of New York, belonging to an old and honored family of the Empire State. He grew to manhood in his native vicinity, and as a young man moved to Wood county, Ohio, where he was married to Polly O. Oakley, who also came from New York. Shortly thereafter they went to the state of Indiana, but sub- sequently made their way to Hillsdale county, Michigan, where Horace Heath died when H. B. Heath was about seven years of age. his widow surviving him many years and passing away at the home of her son in London township, when she was sixty-nine years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Heath were members of the Baptist church, and had a family of five children : Mary Jane, Truman B., George Eugene, Alonzo Charles and Wm. Horace B.
Wm. Horace B. Heath was reared on the home farm, where he was taught the value of honest labor, and his education was secured in the district schools of Hillsdale and Washtenaw counties, although the death of his father when he was a child, and the subsequent necessity of his contributing to the support of the family, somewhat curtailed his schooling, although he supplemented his early training by a great deal of reading and home study. As a young man he began working out by the week, and so continued until he was married, at the age of twenty- nine years, to Frances A. Fuller, who was born, reared and educated in London township, a daughter of Joseph Fuller, a veteran of the Civil war and early settler of Monroe county, who died in January, 1910, leaving a widow and four children: Ira B., living in Washtenaw county ; Frances, who married Horace B. Heath ; George H .; and Burley J. Two other children died; one in infancy, and Fanny at the age of twelve years.
Following his marriage, Mr. Heath began farming on his own account, and agricultural pursuits have demanded his attention to the present time. He is now the owner of Maple Lawn Farm, a fine tract of thirty. five acres, four miles east of Milan, on which is located a beautiful seven-room home, surrounded by a wide, well-kept lawn and numerous maple shade trees. In addition there is a substantial barn, thirty-four by forty-two feet, a silo with a capacity of forty-seven tons, ten by thirty feet, and large granaries, corn cribs and outbuildings. In addi- tion to cultivating his own land, Mr. Heath superintends the work on the farm of his mother-in-law, Mrs. Fuller, the whole property appearing as one large tract, the appearance of which denotes the presence of able and efficient management. He carries on general and dairy farm-
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ing, raises some stock, and is considered one of the substantial agricul- turists of his part of the county.
Mr. and Mrs. Heath have three bright and interesting children : Thurlow B., Ora J. and Florence Ruth. Mr. Heath has always been one of the wheel-horses of the Republican party, and has actively sup- ported its principles and candidates. For thirteen years he has been a member of the district school board, and when his name was placed in nomination as the Republican candidate for the office of township treasurer, it was practically a foregone conclusion that he would be elected to the office. He is giving the people of London township a good, practical, business-like administration, and stands high in favor of the entire community.
HIRAM S. HOLMES. The appeal of the soil is very strong to some men, who return to farming as a means of livelihood after years spent in other pursuits, believing that in this vocation they can find a greater measure of success than any other. In this they are not far wrong if they are possessed of the knowledge and ability to follow agricultural pursuits, and some of Monroe county's most successful men are those who have taken up farming after spending years in another line of endeavor. In this class is Hiram S. Holmes, owner of Macon Lawn Farm, a fine tract of land located in Milan township, one and one-half miles southwest of the village of Milan. Mr. Holmes was born in Oneida county, New York, August 21, 1842, a member of an old and honored New England family, his father being Albert Holmes. John Holmes, the great-grand- father of Hiram S., was a soldier in General Washington's army during the Revolutionary war, and when his son, Jabez Holmes, marched away in defence of his country during the war of 1812-14, he carried the same powder horn that his father had used. This interesting old horn is now in the possession of Mr. Holmes, and is one of his most valued heir- looms. Albert Holmes married Miss Calphurnia Cooley, who was born in New York, daughter of Darius Cooley, a native of New York, and a soldier of the War of 1812. Albert Holmes and his wife came to Michigan in 1869 and settled near Petersburg, where the father died at the age of seventy-six years and the mother when sixty-five years of age. They were both honored and respected by all who knew them, for their many kindly qualities of mind and heart. For a number of years Mr. Holmes was a boatman on the Erie Canal, but from the time that he came west was engaged in agricultural pursuits. In politics he was a Democrat. He and his wife nad two children : Hiram S., and Mrs. Mar- garet Rice, the latter a resident of Juniata, Michigan.
Hiram S. Holmes received a common school education in the Empire State, and when he was only thirteen years of age began walking the tow-path, driving mules on the Erie Canal. As the years went by he was promoted from position to position until he eventually was made captain of a boat, in which capacity he acted until accompanying his par- ยท ents to Michigan. For a long period he had the run on a steamboat between Syracuse and Albany, and was well known to old boatmen on the canal, who still remember him as a faithful comrade and efficient officer. Mr. Holmes was married at thirty years of age to Miss Sarah
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L. Comstock, who was born in Monroe county, Michigan, daughter of Walter Comstock, Jr., whose father Walter Comstock, Sr., was a native of England. Walter Comstock, Jr., married Sarah Ostrom, and she died at the age of eighty six years, but he survived her for a long period and died at the remarkable age of ninety-seven years. They had a family of three children, namely : Betsy, living at Toledo, Ohio; Esther, of Monroe county, Michigan; and Sarah L., who married Mr. Holmes. Mr. and Mrs. Holmes have seven children : Bertie C., Gertie S., Lulu, Walter H., Albert F., Hiram, and one deceased.
Macon Lawn Farm is one of the handsome properties of this part of Monroe county, having a fine lawn, surrounded by shade trees, in the center of which is located Mr. Holmes' nine room modern home. A large barn, 32 x 44 feet, graces the premises, and fine water for the stock and fields is secured from Macon Creek which flows nearby. The credit for the high state of development that this land has been brought to belongs to Mr. Holmes, who has been untiring in his work to make this one of the ideal country homes of this part of the state. That he has succeeded in his efforts is evident at first glance, and while he has been advancing his own interests he has also forwarded those of his community, in the estimation of whose citizens Mr. Holmes holds an enviable position.
Mrs. Holmes' parents were Walter Jr. and Sarah (Ostrom) Com- stock. The father was a native of New York state and the mother was born at Port Trent, Canada. Mrs. Holmes' grandfather, Walter Comstock Sr., was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and participated in the battles of Sackett's Harbor and Lake Champlain, and had seen Generals Washington and Burgoyne, as well as the traitor, Benedict Arnold. Five of Mrs. Holmes' uncles were soldiers in the Civil war. Her uncles Tobias and Richard (the last was an uncle by marriage) were prisoners in Libby Prison, and her uncle Tobias died soon after he was liberated from the prison pen, from the terrible ordeal he passed through while incarcerated.
Mrs. Holmes has faithfully performed her part as a sincere and loving wife and devoted mother in the establishing of their home. She received good educational training in the public schools and her comfort- able home and cheerful fireside is her haven.
DANIEL McFALL. Monroe county has had the privilege of honoring many veterans of the Civil war, among whom may be mentioned Daniel McFall, of Milan township, of whose record the people have a right to be proud. Although he spent nearly three years in the service of his country, when he had completed his military career he found himself without menas, and in the gaining of a position of independence he has shown himself just as good a citizen as a soldier, and able to apply to his business affairs the same conscientious thoroughness and courage that won him promotion and a medal of honor on the field of battle. Mr. McFall was born in Niagara county, New York, August 2, 1836, and is a son of Cornelius, a grandson of Robert, and a great-grandson of an Irish emigrant. Cornelius McFall married Catherine Dennison, and they moved from the east to Wayne county and later to Washtenaw
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county, Michigan, where the father died at the age of eighty-eight years, Mrs. McFall having passed away in her seventieth year. They had a family of six sons and seven daughters. Among the former was a son, Schuyler McFall, who was a member of Company E, Seventeenth Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, who was wounded at the battle of Antietam and now resides at Azalia; Harrison, another son, enlisted at the age of eighteen years in the same company, and died in the awful prison at Andersonville.
Daniel McFall was reared and educated in Wayne and Washtenaw counties, securing his education in the school at Sun Creek and being taught to be industrious and honest. In August, 1852, when President Lincoln issued his call for 300,000 more troops, with which to carry on the Civil war, Mr. McFall enlisted with his brothers in Company E, Seven- teenth Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, under Captain Campbell. The regiment was first ordered to Washington, and then went to the front, subsequently participating in the battles of South Mountain and An- tietam, at the latter losing heavily. In the battles which followed, Fredericksburg, Campbell Station, Blue Springs, the regiment took a prominent part, as it did also at Spottsylvania and the Wilderness. At Spottsylvania, Mr. McFall earned promotion and a medal of honor, for brave and meritorious service in the capture of a Confederate colonel, and in saving a comrade, one George Harmon, from capture. He received his honorable discharge, July 3, 1865, as first sergeant of the company, the rank that his gallant services had won for him.
On his return to Michigan, Mr. McFall spent a number of years in working for others, but all the time was saving his means, so that event- ually he was able to purchase a farm in Monroe county, some twenty-two years ago, and there he still resides. He was married to Mrs. Mary J. White, a widow, who had a son, John White. In political matters he is a dyed-in-the-wool Republican, having continuously supported that party's principles and candidates since Lincoln's first administration. As a soldier, Mr. McFall was known as one of the strongest men in his company, being six feet tall and weighing in the neighborhood of one hundred and eighty pounds, and no men in the regiment could defeat him in deeds of physical prowess. Although he has reached advanced years, Mr. McFall still retains his strength and health, and is able to do his full share of the work on the home farm. He is known as one of Milan township's capable agriculturists, and as a man who has made numerous friends through a long and honorable career.
ALBERT A. AISTON, M. D. Country physicians, who are at all times obliged to make difficult journeys under most distressing and dangerous conditions, have long been objects of admiration. The physician is impelled by his sense of duty and the ethics of his profession to heed the call of suffering at any time of the day or night, and his role, whether in city or country, in the sick room, on the lonely road or the deserted street, calls for a high order of courage as well as high ideals of service to mankind. Prominent among the physicians of Monroe county. Michi- gan, whose fields of activity have been in the country, is Dr. Albert A. Aiston, of Milan township, where during the twenty-five years he has
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built up a reputation in his profession and gained the respect and grati- tude of his fellow townspeople. Dr. Aiston is a veteran of the Civil war, having enlisted in January, 1864, in Company B, Captain Benjamin Butler-afterwards a wonderful national character of the Sixth Heavy Artillery, the regiment being ordered first to New Orleans, Louisiana, and later being sent to Forts Gaines and Morgan and at the latter place continued to be stationed until their honorable discharge. Although only a lad in his 'teens, Dr. Aiston proved to be a good, brave and cour- ageous soldier, faithfully performing all of his duties, and participating in every engagement in which his regiment took part, except during the time that he was confined in the hospital with a dislocated shoulder.
Dr. Aiston was born November 15, 1847, in Genesee county, New York, and is a son of Robert Aiston, a Canadian by birth. The latter was reared and educated in his native country, and followed the vocation of farming, his death occuring when A. A. Aiston was a lad. He married Malvina Leete, a member of a Genesee county family that had origin- ally come from Connecticut, where it had been founded during early colonial days. A member of this family is Bishop Leete, of Detroit, a cousin of Dr. Aiston. Malvina Leete was a daughter of Alexander and Sarah (Cone) Leete.
After the death of Robert Aiston, his widow and two sons, A. A. and Charles, came to Milan township, Monroe county, and here the mother died when she was sixty-seven years of age, one of the best known and most greatly beloved women of her neighborhood, where many could testify to her kindness of heart and many Christian virtues.
A. A. Aiston remained on the home farm and secured his prelimin- ary educational training in the public schools, following which he spent some time in home study and then placed himself under the preceptor- ship of Dr. Jackson, one of the pioneer physicians of Monroe county. Later he studied under Dr. Mason, and a law was passed in 1887 that after a physician had practiced some years he was given a regular license to practice. For twenty-five years Dr. Aiston has been engaged in carrying on his profession in Milan township, and the surrounding country, and has gained a wide and enviable reputation and a large and lucrative practice. He has a fine farm of seventy-six acres situated five miles south of Milan, and not far from Azalia, where he has a fine nine-room rural home, surrounded by a large well-kept lawn, a barn 32 x 40 feet, and other suitable and substantial buildings. Twin Maples Farm is one of the handsome properties of Milan township, and its waving fields of grain, fine pasture land, sleek cattle and general air of pros- perity testify eloquently to the thrift, industry and progressive ideas of its owner.
Dr. Aiston was married in 1868 to Mrs. Eliza (Bisbee) Bulson, widow of Edward Bulson, a soldier, who died in the Confederate prison at Andersonville, leaving one son, Edward, Jr. Three children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Aiston, namely : Ernest, who was a well known dentist of Rockford, Illinois, left a widow and six children-Alice, Homer, Louise, Jean and two others; Robert, who is engaged in the practice of dentistry in Chicago; and Catherine, the wife of E. R. Turner, a railroad operator of Azalia, and has four children-Walter, Helen, Ellen and
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Almeda. Mr. and Mrs. Turner are living on the farm with Dr. Aiston, and all are well known in the community. The widow of Dr. Ernest Aiston was formerly a Miss Gunn, daughter of John Gunn, who served in the Scotch Highlanders' Brigade in the English army.
Dr. Aiston has been secretary of the board of health for seven years. He belongs to William Bell Post, Grand Army of the Republic at Dundee, Michigan, and is also a member of the Masons and the Odd Fellows. A man of frank and genial personality, during the quarter of a century that he has resided here he has made many warm friends, and no member of his profession stands higher in the estimation of either his confreres or the public at large.
RODNEY O. HAZEN. Ever since the establishment of the rural free delivery mail service, substantial, reliable men have been chosen to represent the various communities, it being desirable that those who fill these important positions be individuals in whom the general public places the utmost confidence. For more than five years Rodney O. Hazen has been carrying the mail over Milan township, from the Milan postoffice, and his services have been such as to reflect the greatest credit upon himself and his community. Mr. Hazen has served the govern- ment in another capacity, being a veteran of the Spanish-American war. He enlisted at Detroit, Michigan, March 4, 1899, in Company F, Tenth Regiment, United States Infantry, following which he was sent with his regiment to Savannah, Georgia, and later to Matanzas, Cuba, subse- quently seeing service in Cienfuegos De Cuba for one year. The regiment then embarked for the Philippine Islands, and after sixty days on the water arrived at Manila, where Mr. Hazen and his comrades fought for fifteen months. Returning to California, he was stationed at Angels Island for a time and received his discharge in May, 1902, having made an excellent record.
Mr. Hazen was born August 4, 1879, a son of N. T. Hazen, and a grandson of D. W. Hazen, a pioneer of Monroe county, who came here from Vermont. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and a relative of General Hazen, a noted Civil war officer in the signal service, whose widow married Admiral Dewey, the hero of Manila Bay. N. T. Hazen was also a soldier, having served in the Fourth regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry for three years, and made a gallant record. He married Matilda Brion, who was born in Canada, of English parentage, and they had four children : R. O., R. N., W. B. and L. C. With the exception of R. O., all the sons live in north central Montana, and the father also makes his home there.
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