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 22
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In 1871 Mr. Knowles was married to Miss Emily Doran, a woman of intelligence and good breeding, who was born, reared and educated in Monroe county, and is a daughter of Henry and Marie (Zeluff) Doran, of New York. The family first came to Monroe county in 1839 and settled in the woods, making their home on the farm now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Knowles. Both of Mrs. Knowles' parents died at the age of sixty-four years, honored and respected by all who knew them. They had four children : Mrs. Eliza Andrews, who died at the age of thirty-one years; Mrs. Emily Knowles; Mrs. Betsy Moulton; and Mrs. Augusta Davis, who is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Knowles have had seven children, namely; Thomas, who is a railroad man, of Pratt, Kansas ; Mrs. Anna C. Masten; Grace; Martin D .; Angela M .; Bernard A., and Bessie A. All the children were given good educational advantages, fitting them for whatever positions they have been called upon to fill in life, and Angela M. and Bessie A. are now popular and successful school-teachers of Monroe county.
JOSEPH GRAMLICH. Two and a half miles northwest of Maybee, in London township, is situated the well-cultivated farm of Joseph Gram- lich, born February 5, 1865, in the old log cabin back of his present residence, a prominent citizen who has spent his entire life in Monroe county, where he has been instrumental in advancing his community's . agricultural interests. Wenderlin Gramlich, his father, was born October 20, 1823, in Baden, Germany, when as a young man of twenty-two years, he emigrated to America and settled in Syracuse, New York. In 1856 he came to Monroe county, by sled and oxen, and settled in the
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woods of London township, where he erected a small log cabin and started to cultivate his land in pioneer style. At the time of President Lincoln's call for one hundred thousand additional troops to carry on the Civil war, Mr. Gramlich showed the metal of his citizenship by enlisting for three years, or during the war, in the Fifteenth Regiment of Michigan Vol- unteer Infantry. He saw much of active service, and was present at the second battle of Bull Run and at the siege of Atlanta, where the Union troops were under fire for one hundred days. He participated in the battles of Kenesaw Mountain, Resaca, Strawberry Plains, and was with General Sherman on his famous march to the sea, on to Savannah, Georgia, thence to the Carolinas, and also participated in the battle of Jonesboro, North Carolina, where he was wounded in the left leg. On September 4, 1864, said wound became a running sore up to his death. He was removed from the field of action and spent the ensuing eight months in St. Mary's hospital, at Detroit, and at this place he received his honorable and final discharge, after having served his adopted country as a brave and valiant soldier for almost three years. On the completion of his military career, Mr. Gramlich resumed the peaceful occupation of farming, and continued to carry on operations in London township, up to the time of his death, on May 31, 1894, when he was in the seventy-second year of his age. Honored and respected by all who knew him, Mr. Gramlich will be long remembered in the community which represented his home for so many years, and where he did his full share in the upbuilding and advancing of the communal life. He helped to build St. Mary's Catholic church, at Blue Bush, two and one-half miles northwest of Maybee, in 1857. This church became too small, and in 1878 a larger one was built, which was abandoned in 1889 and the new St. Joseph's organized at Maybee, Michigan. This church was bought by his son, Joseph Gramlich, in 1911; the most of the lumber is now in his new barn, which he built in 1912. He married Rosa Knabel, who was born in Baden, Germany, and came to Michi- gan when she was twenty-two years of age, and her death occurred on July 3, 1885. She was the mother of the following children: Mrs. Louisa Jelsch, who died in Maybee, on May 16, 1909; Joseph, of this review; Catherine, who is the wife of Fred Palmer; Rosa, who died in September, 1861; and Jacob, who died at the age of fourteen years, on September 29, 1873.
Joseph Gramlich was born on the farm where he now resides, Febru- ary 5, 1865, in London township, which township has been his home all his life, barring his absence at school. He received good educational advantages, attending first the district and public schools and later enter- ing Assumption College, at Sandwich, Canada. In 1898 he turned his attention to the business of buying butter, eggs, poultry and veal, haul- ing it to the Toledo markets and acting as a wholesale butcher, but after six years spent in this business, resumed the tilling of the soil on his father's old property in London township. This land is in a high state of cultivation, and is devoted to general farming and grain raising, in addition to which Mr. Gramlich gives some attention to the breeding of good live-stock. He has improved the property with modern and sub- stantial buildings, including a fine ten-room house, and a barn 36 x 60
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feet, with and "L" 24 x 89 feet on the north side and a silo 12 x 33 feet on the south side of the new barn; also a new grain house, ice house, hog pen, corn cribs, two tool sheds, and a chicken coop. His pastures, meadows and grain fields are in the best of condition, his machinery is in good working order and of a modern make, and the appearance of the property, as a whole, testifies to the skill and good management of its owner. His farm comprises one hundred acres of as fine land as will be found in the township.
On November 8, 1887, Mr. Gramlich was united in marriage by the Rev. Fr. Benjamin Schmidtiel, in St. Michael's church at Monroe, to Miss Bertha A. Doettel, who was born November 13, 1865, and reared at Frenchtown, and is the daughter of Joseph Doettel, an early settler of Monroe county, who died on November 25, 1910, his widow still surviving him and making her home with her children. Mr. and Mrs. Gramlich have had eleven children, as follows : Stella A., the wife of Daniel Palmer ; she was born in the same log cabin which sheltered her father at his birth ; Edmund C .; Alfred J .; Florence I .; Ralph G .; Ida C .; Hubert F .; Thomas A .; Vernie J .; and two other children who died in infancy- Clemens M. and Dorothy C. by name.
Politically Mr. Gramlich has always endorsed the doctrine of the Democratic party on national issues, but in local affairs he has invariably supported the man best fitted for the office, regardless of party lines. His fraternal relations are represented by his membership in the Ger- man Working Men's Society, of Maybee, Michigan, of which he is an honored member. He, with his wife and family, are members of St. Joseph's Catholic church of Maybee, and Mr. Gramlich held the office of trustee of the parish for three years.
During his long residence in London township, Mr. Gramlich has made many friends in this section, where he is universally regarded as one of Monroe county's representative citizens.
FRANK L. ILGENFRITZ. In the industrial department of this work and also in the memoir dedicated to the late Israel Epley Ilgenfritz, father of him whose name initiates this review, are given adequate data con- cerning the splendid industrial enterprise conducted by the I. E. Ilgen- fritz Sons Company, of which Frank L. Ilgenfritz is vice-president, and thus it is not necessary in this connection to give further details concerning the great nursery enterprise conducted by the company.
Frank L. Ilgenfritz has secure standing as one of the enterprising and representative business men of his native city. He is indebted to the public schools of Monroe for his early educational advantages and was graduated from the high school in 1884. Thereafter he was a student in the University of Michigan for a period of eighteen months, after which he returned to Monroe and became actively associated with the extensive nursery business founded and controlled by his honored father. Since the death of the latter he has been associated with three of his brothers in carrying forward their large and prosperous business, which in 1902 was incorporated under its present title, with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars.
The present officers of the company are Wilbur F. Ilgenfritz, presi-
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dent; Frank L., vice-president; Thomas J., secretary and treasurer ; and Theo. E., manager.
The nurseries of the company are among the most extensive in the entire country, while the interested principals of the concern are all thoroughly trained in the practical and scientific details of this line of industry, and the admirable facilities and correct methods brought to bear are shown in the extensive trade of the concern, the products of which are shipped to all parts of the United States.
Frank L. Ilgenfritz has not only been one of the prominent figures in upbuilding the great enterprise controlled by the company of which he is vice-president, but he has also shown a loyal interest in all that has tended to conserve the civic and material prosperity of his home city and county. Though never an aspirant for public office he is a stanch supporter of the principles and policies of the Republican party, and he and his family are members of St. Paul's Methodist Episcopal church of Monroe, in which he has served several years as a member of the board of trustees. He is affiliated with Monroe Lodge No. 27, A. F. & A. M., and with River Raisin Chapter, No. 22, Royal Arch Masons, besides which he has long been identified with Company D., Michigan National Guard, in which he served as first lieutenant for a period of nine years.
On the 14th of November, 1889, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ilgenfritz to Miss Nellie F. L. Alexander, who was born and reared in Monroe county and prior to her marriage was a successful and popular teacher in the Monroe high school. She is the daughter of John Lee and Marie (Nessel) Alexander, natives of New York and Monroe, Michigan, respectively.
Mr. and Mrs. Ilgenfritz have one daughter, Irene Margaret, who has just entered the Monroe high school. Their home is known for its gen- erous hospitality and is one of the many beautiful residences on North Macomb street.
JAMES A. HESS. Among the representative citizens of Monroe county who are native sons of Michigan and who have made agriculture their vocation, mention is deserved by James A. Hess, whose comfortable farmstead is located in section 14 of Dundee township.
Mr. Hess was born August 18, 1846, in Blissfield township, Lenawee county, Michigan, a son of George Hess and Rebecca Moore Hess. By paternal descent he is a scion of Holland ancestors, while the Moores, his mother's people, were from Bedford county, Pennsylvania and were early settlers in Monroe county, their farm lying along the creek in Dundee township. The mother is still living and has now reached advanced years, being eighty-nine years of age. Two children were the issue of these parents: James A., the subject of this review, and Jane, who is now deceased.
James A. Hess was reared to the age of twenty-one in the adjoining county of Lenawee and acquired his education in the district schools near his boyhood home and in the public schools of Adrian, the county seat. Upon attaining his majority he set out in life for himself and finally became a resident of Monroe county, where he now owns 156
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acres of fine land in section 14 of Dundee township and is largely interested in the dairy business and in the raising of fine Holstein cattle. Mr. Hess has prospered, but the results he has achieved have been obtained by diligence and untiring industry on his part and by the intelligent and business-like management of his interests.
In 1882, at the age of thirty-five, Mr. Hess wedded Miss Caroline Boileau and one son has blessed their union, Lynford H. Hess, born in 1890, who also has taken up agriculture as his vocation and is still at the parental home. Mr. Hess is a member of the Dundee Grange, and in politics is independent, reserving to himself the right to judge of the men and issues and to support those who he is convinced will best con- serve and further the rights of the whole people. Dundee township numbers Mr. and Mrs. Hess among its most respected and worthy citizens.
For twenty-nine years Mrs. Hess had been a faithful and affectionate wife and mother. She had stood side by side with her husband in the rearing of her children and in the establishing their comfortable home and when just ready to enjoy the fruits of her labor, she passed to "that bourne from whence no traveler returns." Mrs. Hess was known far and wide for her beautiful traits of character, and her neighbors will ever remember with gratitude her many acts of Christian duty and affection. She sleeps in the new Summerfield cemetery where her husband and son have caused to be erected a beautiful monument sacred to her mem- ory. She died in the month of July, 1911.
WILLIAM F. OVERMYER, of Rea, Michigan, is one of the active pro- gressive business men of Monroe county engaged in the mercantile busi- ness. A man of sound judgment and indefatigable enterprise, he began business life as a clerk but soon became independently engaged in mer- chandising and has turned his ability and efforts to such account that he has forged steadily toward financial success and has become one of the substantial men of his community.
Mr. Overmyer is a native of Ohio, born in Sandusky county of that state on November 14, 1870, to Isaiah and Mahalah (Foster) Overmyer. His father is still living and is now a resident of the town of Lindsey, Ohio, but the mother died June 1, 1894. Reared on the farm and educated first in the district schools near his boyhood home and later at the Lindsey high school, he remained at the parental home until he had attained the legal age of manhood and then went to Fulton county, Indiana, where he became a clerk in a store at Leiters Ford. After two years there he came to Rea, Michigan, and bought a half interest in a general store owned by his uncle and his brother Louis. This business association continued for a year and a half and then Mr. Overmyer purchased the remaining interest from his brother Louis F. and has since been its sole proprietor. After taking charge of the store he enlarged the building in which the business is housed, increased the stock, and by good business ability and accuracy of business methods he has built up a prosperous enterprise and has gained a large and profitable trade. Besides these interests he owns a fine cement residence at Rea, modern in all of its appointments.
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Mr. Overmyer has been twice married. He was first united to Miss Bertha Curtis, of Leiters Ford, Indiana, who died on April 27, 1901, leaving him a daughter, Marjorie C., now thirteen years of age, (1912). The second marriage of Mr. Overmyer occurred February 26, 1902, when he wedded Clara Belle Miller, who is a native of Dundee township, Monroe county. To the latter union have been born a daughter and a son, Genevieve and Foster, now respectively aged seven years and two years (1912). Both Mr. and Mrs. Overmyer are members of the Meth- odist Protestant church at Rea and Mr. Overmyer is a teacher and superintendent of the Sunday school of that denomination there. Fra- ternally he is a member of the Ancient Order of Gleaners, and politically he affiliates with the Republican party. His citizenship is of the same high order as is his business standing and in his each and every relation toward society Mr. Overmyer always stands for progress and the most worthy living.
CAPT. RICHARD P. INGERSOLL was the first white child born in what is now Dundee township, Monroe county, Michigan, his nativity having occurred on January 31, 1827. All of the four score and five years that have passed since then he has spent in Monroe county, with the excep- tion of three years' service in the Civil war, and no one within its borders has a better knowledge of the remarkable transformation that has taken place in Monroe county, in Michigan, and in the whole of our country in that period than has Captain Ingersoll. And few there are that have reached his advanced age or whose lives have been more loyally devoted to truth, honor and right than has the life of this honored pioneer. His country, his church and his home and family have each had in him a willing and loving servitor in their behalf.
Captain Ingersoll is a son of Hon. Riley Ingersoll and Emma Pelton Ingersoll, the former born in Ovid, Seneca county, New York, in 1797, and the latter a daughter of Captain Richard Pelton, who was lost in the War of 1812. They were married in Ithaca, New York, in 1825, and came from there to Monroe county, Michigan, where they settled on a farm of 375 acres in Dundee township now known as the Bert Bordine farm, which he had entered part from the government the previous year of 1824. After residing seventeen years on this farm he sold it and removed to London township, where remained his abode until his death. Captain Ingersoll is the eldest of nine children, five daughters and four sons, born to these parents and is one of four living at this date (1912), the others being Miss Mary Ingersoll, of Monroe, Michigan, and Edmund G. Ingersoll and George W. Ingersoll, both residents of Chicago, Illinois. Edmund G. Ingersoll also fought in defense of the Union as a member of the Ninth Michigan Infantry, with which he served to the end of the war.
Capt. Richard P. Ingersoll was reared in Dundee and London townships of this county and attended the district schools, later becom- ing a student at Lodi Academy, Washtenaw county. The death of his father, however, interrupted his studies in the latter institution and compelled his return home, but he had already acquired an education sufficient to enable him to teach, and for some years he was engaged in
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that profession in Monroe, Michigan. Later he entered the mercantile business in Monroe, but in 1861 he returned to the farm. April 12, 1854, he wedded Harriett A. Garwood, of the city of Monroe, where she was born June 4, 1837. Mrs. Ingersoll has received a liberal education in the public schools and in the young ladies seminary at Monroe, and was the leading soprano singer of that city and the soloist in the choir of the Methodist church there. Though now advanced in years, she still retains her musical talent to a remarkable degree. She has long been prominent in the church and Sunday school circles of this county and has been a valuable and potent factor in the furtherance of their good work.
Michigan was one of the foremost states in defending the Union during the dark days of the Civil war. In August, 1862, Captain Inger- soll raised a company of soldiers known as the Dundee company, of which he was commissioned captain by Governor Blair and which was made a part of the Eighteenth Michigan Infantry and served in the Fourteenth army corps under General Thomas. Captain Ingersoll par- ticipated in the hard fought battle of Nashville, as well as in a number of the other serious engagements in the Tennessee campaign and in Alabama, and served until the close of the war, being mustered out on June 25, 1865, and receiving his honorable discharge in July following. He commemorates the days of 1861-65 as a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. After the war he returned to his home and family in Michigan and resumed farming, which has since remained his vocation. At one time he owned 325 acres in sections 22 and 23 of Dundee town- ship and he still retains 167 acres. Though full of years he still super- intends his farming interests and is largely interested in the raising of sheep.
Captain and Mrs. Ingersoll have traveled life's journey together fifty-eight years and are the parents of eight children. Their son Charles S., a graduate of the agricultural school and of the law department of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, is now following law at Pond Creek, Oklahoma; Mary H., a graduate of the State Normal School at Ypsilanti, Michigan, became a prominent teacher in this county and is now the wife of Myron Chamberlain, cashier of the Newberry bank, Newberry, Michigan ; and Julia Louise, who inherited the musical talent of her mother and became prominent in the music circles of this section, is now the wife of Rev. Charles Stelzle, a Presbyterian minister and who is superintendent of the Presbyterian department of the Church and Labor, and resides in Maplewood, New Jersey.
Captain Ingersoll and his wife have each been members of the Meth- odist Episcopal church for more than sixty years and their lives have been in harmony with their professions, being characterized by consider- ation for others, for justice and truth. Captain Ingersoll has held different of the church offices, has been class leader and Sunday school superintendent, and for many years has been a regular and faithful attendant at the Methodist church two miles distant from his home, never missing a church service when he was able to be present. Captain Ingersoll has been one of the most devoted members of his church and
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in forty-seven years he has made the remarkable average of attending fifty Sabbaths each year, divine worship and church work. It is as a Christian gentleman, as one of the brave and gallant defenders of our national life, and as a citizen who in action has ever been honorable and in life upright that Captain Ingersoll has won the deserved esteem of his fellowmen, and the name of this honored pioneer will go down in the history of Monroe county supported by all the attributes of a well spent life and an honorable career.
CHARLES H. RANKIN, a well known farmer of Dundee township and a highly esteemed citizen of that community, is a representative of one of the pioneer families of Monroe county and now resides on the farm of which his father became the owner in 1849.
Born January 19, 1842, he was but seven years of age when he accom- panied his parents from his native state of New York to Monroe county, Michigan, in 1849 and for sixty-three years he has resided continuously at the old homestead. His father was David Rankin and his mother was Sarah M. Potter before her marriage, a daughter of John Potter who + was a native of Massachusetts. David Rankin died June 2, 1862, but was survived many years by his wife, whose demise occurred on July 3, 1891. Of the eight children born to these parents but two are living at this date (1912) : Charles H. Rankin, whose name introduces this review, and Sarah J., the wife of Philemon Brewer, of Dundee township. William J. Rankin, another son, participated in the Civil war as second lieutenant of his company in the Twelfth Tennessee Cavalry and was killed December 16, 1864, in the battle of Nashville.
Charles H. Rankin was reared on the farm where he now resides and attended the district schools of this locality until seventeen years of age. Until his father's death he assisted in the duties of the home farm and afterward continued in charge of it until his mother also had passed away, when he bought the homestead, which is located on section 17 of Dundee township and comprises seventy-four and a half acres of good land.
On May 3, 1873, Mr. Rankin was united in marriage to Miss Emma J. Van Vleet, who was born in Ridgeway township, Lenawee county, Michi- gan on November 20, 1845. She is a daughter of Peter P. and Lois (Sworthout) Van Vleet, both of whom were from Seneca county, New York. They were Michigan pioneers that came to this state in 1832 and located in Lenawee county, where they entered land and where they spent the remainder of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Rankin have three children, as follows: Zelma L., now the wife of William S. Shultz; Walter J., who wedded Miss Ora Noble; and Zada, now Mrs. Paul Clament. Mr. Rankin is a member of Dundee Lodge No. 74, Free and Accepted Masons and both he and his wife are members of Ruth Chapter No. 84, Order of the Eastern Star. In politics he is aligned with the Republican party but has never taken an active part in political affairs. Both Mr. and Mrs. Rankin are pleasant people and kind neighbors who after a . long residence here stand secure in the high regard of all who know them.
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ALFRED WILSON, a prominent agriculturist of Dundee township and one of the influential citizens of his community, is one of a great number of the citizens of Monroe county, Michigan, that claim New York as the state of their nativity. He may also be termed a worthy pioneer of this county, for his residence here covers a period of fifty years and he has so lived as to ever command the high respect and regard of his acquaintances.
Mr. Wilson is a son of Charles Wilson and Elizabeth Stull Wilson and was born in the Empire state January 1, 1849. His grandfather was John Wilson, a native of New Jersey. In 1863 Charles Wilson removed his family from Seneca county, New York, to Monroe county, Michigan and located in Dundee township, about one mile north of where our subject now resides. Later he took up his residence in the town of Dundee, where he passed away in 1884 and was joined in death by his wife in 1885. Six of their eight children are living at this date (1912) and are as follows : James H. Wilson, a retired contractor residing in New York; John Wilson, a farmer in Dundee township; Anna, the widow of Rev. J. D. Schultz; David G. Wilson, a druggist at Dundee, Michigan; Alfred Wilson, the subject of this review, and Mary G., the wife of Herman O. Hains.
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