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 33
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
Mr. Fillmore is a direct descendant of President Millard Fillmore, since his father was a nephew of the president.
Mrs. Fillmore is an able exponent to her husband in his business since she completed the full course in the Clarks School of Embalming by correspondence and is a licensed embalmer under the laws of the state of Michigan. Especially is she valuable when the subject to be embalmed is a lady. She is affable and genial in manner, and courteous to the many patrons who patronize their establishment. She has also
837
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
been a great aid and help in the Sabbath school since she was an efficient teacher for several terms.
EMERY MILLS, one time sheriff of Monroe county, prosperous farmer of Ida and Dundee townships, and all around good citizen of the com- munity of which he has been a resident since 1874, was born in Cleve- land, Ohio, on March 31, 1854, a son of John F. and Rachel (Sayers) Mills. The father was of English extraction and was born in Connec- ticut, later became a resident of Cleveland, Ohio, and finally located in Lenawee county, Michigan, where he passed the remainder of his days. Twelve children were born to John and Rachel Mills, and of that num- ber eight are living at this time.
The early education of Emery Mills was received in the district schools of his native town, and he finished his schooling by attending the Blissfield high school. When he had finished school he accepted a position with the Deering Harvester Company, and for eighteen years he was identified with that well known company.
On January 18, 1877, he married Miss Clara A. Waltz, a young woman who was born in Medina county, Ohio, and who, when her edu- cation was completed, became a teacher, an occupation to which she gave her attention until her marriage. They came to Monroe county in the same year of their marriage, and here have resided ever since. Four children have been born to them : Maude E. is the wife of William Tuttle; Madge is married to Louis Mills of Manton, Michigan; Charles R. married Clara Reber, and Harriet is a trained missionary of the Methodist Episcopal church, serving in Ajmere, India. She is a grad- uate of the Dundee high school and the State Normal School of Ypsi- lanti, Michigan. Mrs Mills is a faithful member of the Methodist church at Lulu, Michigan, and has shared in the labors of that body since she became a member of it. Mr. Mills is a Republican and has served in various capacities in a public way during the years of his life in the township. He has been highway commissioner of Ida township, and was elected sheriff of Monroe county in 1894, serving through 1895 and 1896. When his term of office expired he became a resident of Monroe and Dundee, and was engaged as a traveling salesman for the Deering Harvester Company, being thus occupied for nine years. He then moved on a farm in Ida township, where he has thirty-three acres under cultivation, in addition to which he is the owner of ninety acres in Dundee township, which, under his wise management, yields him a goodly income. Mr. Mills was at one time chairman of the Republican county central committee, and is still a member of the committee. He is a man who has always willingly borne his full share of the civic bur- den, and has established a reputation for good citizenship that might well be emulated by the rising generation.
JOHN E. SYKES, a prominent farmer of Ida township, and for years identified with the political activities of the community, was born in section 23, Ida township, on January 25, 1849, and is a son of Will- iam and Maria (Richardson) Sykes. Both parents were born in Eng- land and there reared, coming to the United States in 1846. They
838
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
were accompanied to America by the father of Mrs. Sykes, who made his home with them until his death. They located in Ida township and there spent the remainder of their days, and came to be regarded with the highest esteem and affection in the town in which they settled on coming to this country. The father was a quiet, unassuming man, attentive to his own affairs, and was a kindly and indulgent father. He died in 1876, his widow surviving him until 1894. They became the parents of four children, who grew up to years of manhood and womanhood, three of the number being now alive. John E. of this review is the eldest. Mary E. became the wife of Rev. C. W. Baldwin, who is the superintendent of the Saginaw Bay district in the Methodist Episcopal church, and who is of the prominent and popular men of his denomination in the southern part of the state. Joseph A. married Mary Schurer, and they are residents of this township.
The education of John E. Sykes did not extend beyond his sixteenth year, after which he gave his full attention to the work of the farm. He remained at home for some time, then set out for himself, finally becoming the owner of one of the fine farms which have given Ida township high prestige in the county.
On November 28, 1876, Mr. Sykes was united in marriage with Miss Margaret C. Todd, a native of Wyandotte county, Ohio, born there on November 17, 1854. She was a daughter of John Todd, who was born in Belmont county, Ohio, and came with his father to Crawford county, then to Wyandotte county and finally to Monroe county, Michigan. Mrs. Sykes was given superior educational advantages and was for some years engaged as a teacher, in which work she proved herself to be both efficient and valuable as an instructor.
Two daughters have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Sykes. Irma was educated in the Monroe high school, and became a teacher of known ability. She later married Delbert D. Blackman and is a resident of her native town. Fannie E. is single and lives at home.
All the family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Lulu, Michigan, of which Mr. Sykes is one of the trustees. Mrs. Sykes and her husband have always been active workers in the Sunday school of the church, being prominent as teachers, and Miss Fannie Sykes is assistant secretary of the Sunday school. Mr. Sykes is a Republican, and has served his township as supervisor for six years. He has always been more or less identified with the political interests of the township, and is recognized as one of the solid men of the community.
LEOPOLD HOFFMAN. Coming to Monroe in the pioneer days, the late Leopold Hoffman was here actively identified with business and civic interests for more than thirty years, and here he gained large and worthy success as one of the world's productive workers. He was a man whose impregnable integrity gained and retained to him unqualified popular respect and esteem, and he played no insignificant part in connection with business activities in Monroe, so that his name merits an enduring place on the roster of the honored pioneers of this county. Thus it is a mat- ter of consistency to incorporate in this publication a brief review of his career and a tribute to his memory.
Missing Page
Missing Page
841
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
Leopold Hoffman was born in Oestringen, grand duchy of Baden, Germany, and the date of his nativity was November 28, 1816. He was but nine years of age at the time of the death of his parents, Anthony and Francesca (Rizer) Hoffman, and he was reared to maturity in the home of one of his brothers-in-law, with whom he remained until he was about twenty-three years of age and under whose direction he learned the trade of baker, in the meanwhile having availed himself of the advan- tages of the excellent schools of his native land. In December, 1839, Mr. Hoffman, who was then a young man of twenty-three years, severed the ties that bound him to the land of his birth and set forth to seek his for- tunes in America, whither he came with limited capital but with gener- ous endowment of energy, ambition and practical business ability. He sailed from Rotterdam, Holland, and landed in New York City, from which point he gradually made his way westward. Incidentally he found employment on the Ohio canal for nearly a year, and he made Monroe, Michigan, his destination. Here he engaged in the work of his trade, and soon he was enabled to develop a prosperous business in the conducting of a grocery, bakery and restaurant. In 1844 he returned to Germany to assist in the settlement of the estate of his father, the affairs of the same having been in charge of guardians, trustees and administrators during the long intervening years. After receiving his share of the ancestral patrimony Mr. Hoffman returned to his home in Monroe, after an absence of about one year, and here, on the 18th of November, 1845, in St. Mary's church, was solemnized his marriage to Miss Stephania Lammlin, daughter of Sebastian and Frances (Resteren) Lammlin, who had im- migrated from Germany to America in an early day. The marriage ceremony was performed by Rev. P. M. Francis, of the Redemptorist order, who was at that time assistant to Rev. Father Louis Gillet, pastor of St. Mary's church. The devoted companionship of Mr. and Mrs. Hoff- man continued for more than a quarter of a century and the gracious relations were severed by the death of the loved wife and mother, who was summoned to the life eternal on the 28th of May, 1872. The names of the children of this union are here given, with respective dates of birth : Anthony, October 29, 1846; Seraphena, April 11, 1848; Mathilda, February 18, 1850; John Leopold, March 5, 1852; Bernard, October 22, 1854; Joseph Sebastian, November 28, 1856; Francis Joseph, January 4, 1859; William Aloyse, February 22, 1861; Helena Francesca, July 22, 1862; Clara Augusta, October 8, 1864; Henry Daniel, May 20, 1867; Edward, December 19, 1869; and Anna Theresa, May 20, 1872. Of these children Anthony, Helena F., and Anna T. are deceased. Seraphena still resides in Monroe and is the wife of Sebastian Lauer; Mathilda is the wife of Benjamin Sturn, of this city ; John L. and Joseph S. are rep- resentative business men of Monroe; Clara A. is the wife of Frank Yea- ger, a prominent business man of Monroe; Henry D. is individually men- tioned on other pages of this work; Francis J. and William A. are promi- nent business men of Fenton, Genesee county, where Edward also resides ; and Bernard is engaged in business in the village of La Salle, Monroe county.
Concerning the honored subject of this memoir the following pertinent statements have been made and are worthy of perpetuation: "Coming
842
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
to Monroe when a young man, Mr. Hoffman opened a grocery store, bakery and restaurant, and by his strict integrity and careful attention to business he built up a large and prosperous trade. While of a gener- ous disposition and kind and liberal to his family, he was frugal and economical in his habits and thus was enabled to accumulate a large com- petency for his declining years. While he took no active part in politics Mr. Hoffman was known as a strict Democrat. In religion he was a devout and consistent communicant of the Catholic church, and he was for many years a trustee of St. Michael's church, in Monroe, to the erec- tion of the edifice of which he contributed most liberally, as did he also to the parochial and general work of the great mother church of Christen- dom.'
Shortly after the death of his loved wife, Mr. Hoffman returned to his native land, and at Oestringen, in Baden, Germany, the place in which he was born, he passed the closing period of his life. He did not long survive his cherished wife and helpmeet, as he passed to the life eternal on the 5th of November, 1874, after having been a resident of Monroe county, Michigan, for more than thirty years,-years marked by earnest and successful endeavor on his part. An honest and upright citizen, a faithful friend and a devoted husband and father, his death was deeply mourned by a large and interesting family of children and grand- children, as well as by many valued and loyal friends in the community which so long represented his home. His mortal remains were laid to rest in his native town, but his name and services will not be forgotten in Monroe county. where he lived and labored to goodly ends and left the rich heritage of a good name.
DR. HERBERT E. KELLY has been located at Ida in Ida township since 1900, and with the passing years has found favor with the people who have had occasion to avail themselves of his professional skill and services, winning to himself an enviable reputation as a physician and surgeon of ability, as well as a man of specific qualities of integrity and trustworthiness.
Born on a farm in La Salle township, in Monroe county, Dr. Kelly is a native son of the state, his birth occurring on November 6, 1873. He is the son of William J. and Mary J. (Kimball) Kelly, residents of Monroe county for the greater part of their lives. The father died in February 1911, but the mother still lives, and is a resident of Ida at the present time. Dr. Kelly was the youngest child of his parents, and he received such school advantages as the district schools of his town- ship could afford up till he was fourteen years of age, when he entered the Monroe high school, from which he was graduated with the class of 1894. He worked for a year on the home farm after his graduation, and in the fall of 1895 he entered the medical department of the Univer- sity of Michigan at Ann Arbor, where he pursued a four year course in medicine. In 1899 he was graduated from that institution with the degree of M. D. Immediately following that important event, the young doctor settled at Ottawa Lake, but his stay there was of the briefest, and in 1900 he located at Ida, which place has claimed his en- tire time and attention since locating.
843
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
Dr. Kelly is a member of the Monroe County and State Medical societies, and of the American Medical Association, as an aid to his profession, and with his studious nature and open mind, he is destined to ever move forward in his chosen profession, leaving behind him those who are content to be guided by what they learned in their university days, however complete and comprehensive that instruction might have been at the time. He is a member of the Samaria Lodge No. 348, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and Bethel Lodge No. 431 Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, as well as Tent No. 841 of the Knights of the Maccabees. Dr. Kelly is a Republican, as regards his political preferences and inclinations, and he is at present serving in the capacity of health officer of Ida township. He is a member of the Presbyterian church of Ida and a member of its board of trustees.
In May, 1902, Dr. Kelly was united in marriage with Miss Grace Middaugh, the daughter of Winfield Middaugh, and who was reared in La Salle township. She was educated in the public and high schools of South Bend, Indiana. They have two children,-Mildred, aged four years and Mary, one year old.
HON. SIMEON VAN AKIN, ex-state senator of the second district of Monroe county, Michigan, is one of the men who have ever been closely identified with the life of the county and state in a political way, and whose influence has never failed in its stimulus to upward and onward growth. He is a native of the state, born in Hudson, Lenawee county, on October 14, 1842, and is a son of Simeon and Lydia (Winslow) Van Akin. The Van Akin family is one which has been established in the United States since the middle of the eighteenth century, the first of the name coming over from Holland in about 1750. The Van Aukens originally written Van Aachen, and formed from the preposition Van, (from), and Aachen, (flowing waters) "From the Flowing Waters." The tradition is easy, as Aa had the long broad sound of "a" as in "author." Probably the article der (the) was formerly in the name, as Van der Aachen, but was dropped by the progressive descendants of the progenitor who hailed from the "Falling Waters." The first of that name we find is James Van Auken who lived on the banks of the Delaware in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, having first seen the light upon this mundane sphere some time during the year 1740.
His wife's maiden name was Elizabeth Von Ben Scoten, to whom were born five children. Levi, born in 1770, had one daughter who married Cephas McCarty, and whose descendants still live in the town of Phelps, Ontario county, New York. One daughter married James Case, of Sodus, New York. One married Solomon Van Auken, whose descend- ants live near Newark, Wayne county, New York. One married Ben- jamin Van Auken; one a Mr. Russell, and one Westbrook Van Auken of Monroe county, Michigan. Charity, second child of James Van Auken, the elder, born in 1761, married Lodowick Van Demark, father of Frederick, Silas, William and Experience. The wife of Archibald Burnett, Charity, becoming a widow, subsequently married Charles Humphrey, whose descendants now live in Phelps, New York.
Anthony, the third child of James Van Auken, born in 1763, was
844
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
first married to a lady by the name of Hornbeck, by whom was born to him Benjamin, Lodowick, Levi, Cornelius and Elizabeth. Anthony subsequently married Martha McMath, by whom was born to him the following children: Allah, Rebecca, John, James, Mable, Archibald, Kelsey and Ruth. John Van Auken, fourth son of James, was born in 1768, in Pennsylvania, and was married to Margaret Westfall, by whom were born to him ten children, nine sons and one daughter. He emi- grated from Pennsylvania with his wife and three children and settled in the town of Phelps, Ontario county, New York, in 1796. He erected a dwelling on the banks of Canandaigua Outlet, where he shortly after occupied six hundred acres of land, about five miles below the village of Phelps, Van Demark and Humphrey being neighbors south, Middaugh and Westfall west, and Showers north.
John Van Auken received a premium for services as drummer at the age of fourteen. He also met with others July 2, 1812, at Canan- daigua, New York, and marched to Niagara frontier and was engaged more or less till the close of the war.
George Van Auken was captain of the Rifle Company, and was present as an escort to General La Fayette at Geneva in 1824.
Garrett Van Auken, fifth child of James the elder, remained on or near the old homestead in Pennsylvania, where it is supposed his descend- ants now live. A descendant of Garrett Van Auken was married about 1876 to Mr. Alfred Westfall and located in Phelps, Ontario county, New York.
The name Van Akin now known was changed to the present spelling about 1830, from the original Holland Van Auken.
Simeon Van Akin, the father of him whose name introduces this brief review, was born on the banks of the Delaware river, near Port Jarvis, Pennsylvania, on December 11, 1789, and he was the son of John and Margaret (Westfall) Van Akin, the son of James and Eliza (Von Bens- coten) Van Akin. The Von Benscoten family, like the Van Akins, were originally from Holland, he of that name who founded the family in America coming over from that country in his early manhood with his wife in about 1770 and settling on the banks of the Delaware in Pennsylvania and there they passed the remainder of their lives, en- gaged for the most part in lumbering, and some farming in the later years of their lives. John Van Akin, the fourth son of James Van Akin, who established the family in America, was born in 1768. He married Margaret Westfall in his young manhood, and they reared a family of ten children, nine sons and one daughter. The eldest son was Simeon Van Akin, the first of that name in the American branch of the family. He was born on December 11, 1789, as mentioned in a previous paragraph, and when he was in his sixth year his parents moved to Phelps, Ontario county, New York, where the father, John Van Akin, became the owner of six hundred acres of valuable land. He passed the remainder of his life on this farm. There Simeon Van Akin was reared to manhood, and he came first to Michigan in 1823, and soon entered a tract of 160 acres of land from the government in the Bean Creek settlement. On a part of this land the city of Hudson in Lenawee county, Michigan, is located. He married Lydia Winslow
1
845
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
Spear, the widow of Lorenzo Spear, and they settled in Madison town- ship, south of Adrian, in 1826. They became the parents of three children : Clarissa A., the widow of E. J. Southworth of Hudson, Mich- igan ; Hon. Simeon Van Akin and William W. . Van Akin, the latter of whom died in 1903.
Simeon Van Akin, of this review, was born on the farm which his father secured from the government in his first days in Michigan, and where he grew to manhood. He was educated, as a boy, in the district schools of his neighborhood, and when he was twenty years old, the breaking out of the Civil war brought his speedy enlistment in Company C, First Regiment Berdan Sharp Shooters, his detachment becoming a part of the Army of the Potomac. He was two years in the service and saw much of the activities of the war, participating in some of the most famous conflicts of the war period. In a volume en- titled "Berdan's Sharp Shooters and the Army of the Potomac," on page 245, appears the statement that "Simeon Van Akin was one of five men who were detailed to guard the Twenty-third Georgia Regi- ment" during the battle of Chancellorsville. He was honorably dis- charged in 1864 and promptly returned to his native county, soon after which he went to Rochester, New York, where he pursued a course of instruction in the Bryant & Startton Business College. He returned to Hudson, Michigan, one year later, and in 1866 he went on a trip to the West. Another year found him back in Hudson, his return being in the winter of 1867, and he was married on January 15th of that year to Miss Charlotte E. Southwick. She was born in Monroe, Michigan, on January 13, 1839, a daughter of Benjamin F. Southwick, who was one of the pioneers of Monroe county, Michigan, and a most estimable gentleman. He was a native of Vermont who migrated to Michigan in early life. He was engaged as clerk of the land office at the time the greater part of the Monroe county lands were taken up by homeseekers.
1 Mrs. Van Akin was educated in the schools of Monroe county. In 1869 the young couple came to Ida and settled on the west side of section 3, where they lived until in 1880 when Mr. Akin built the fine home where he now resides. They became the parents of two children,-Lee, born July 9, 1868, and Clara, born December 18, 1880. The son married Nellie E. Osborn on July 9, 1895, and less than three months after his marriage, September 20, 1895, he passed away. His widow still lives. The daughter also was taken from them by death, her death occurring on November 17, 1901, when she was in the very bloom of young womanhood. She was married on July 5, 1899, to Dr. William E. Silzer, surviving but one short year after her marriage. On November 19, 1909, the Van Akin home was once more bereaved, this time by the death of the wife and mother. She was a lifelong member of the Presbyterain church and an earnest and active worker in all departments of that organization, and her loss was keenly felt and sincerely mourned in all circles where she was known. She was a lady of culture and refinement, and her home was one of the gracious centers of hospitality in the town where she lived so many years.
In 1903, '04, '05, and '06 Mr. Van Akin was elected state senator
846
HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY
of the second district of Monroe county, Michigan, and in that office ably handled the matters intrusted to him by his constituents, proving himself a capable and valuable legislator. He is a Republican and has always been an active intelligent henchman of the party in his district. He has given worthy service to his town in various capacities, having been township supervisor for five years as well as town clerk and justice of the peace. His has been a life of activity, from his earliest years, and he has left his impress upon the town and county which has so long represented the center of his activities. In recent years he platted and laid out what is known as Van Akin Addition to the village of Ida, the location being on the west side of Main street and north of the railroad.
Mr. Van Akin maintains no fraternal relations beyond his member- ship in the Masonic order, of which he became a inember on October 18, 1870.
DR. STANLEY O. NEWCOMB fills an important place in the life of the community in which he has been located since 1904, and to which he has confined his professional activities since the beginning of his medical career. He is a native son of Michigan, born in Carleton, Monroe county, in February, 1877, and is the son of Dr. Darwin E. and Emma (Du Paul) Newcomb. Dr. Newcomb, the father of Stanley O., was a graduate of the Detroit College of Medicine, and conducted a lively practice at Carleton for thirty years. He was a man of much ability, and a student all his life, and in the years which he devoted to his pro- fession it was his privilege to do much for the alleviation of human suffering. He died on September 16, 1901. His widow is still a resi- dent of Carleton. They were the parents of five children, of which number four were living in 1912. They are named as follows: Blanche, who married Dr. Arthur E. Ames, of Morris, Michigan; Dr. Stanley O .; Ralph, a resident of Grand Rapids, Michigan; Bessie, a graduate of the Ypsilanti high school and now a student in the Med- ical Department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and Charles, who died at the age of twenty years.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.