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 39
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Mr. and Mrs. Consear are counted among the important members of the Lutheran church of this vicinity. Mr. Consear's interest in school matters is such as to have brought him for five years the responsibility of membership in the district board of school directors. He is a Repub- lican in politics and is the present justice of the peace of Whiteford township. He has also served two years as highway commissioner.
The agricultural business of Mr. Consear is of a general nature. He is the owner of 160 acres of land, of which 120 are in section 22 and 40 acres in section 14. He is an excellent example of the honest, honorable German-American type.
JOHN S. KLUMP, a well-known agriculturist of Whiteford township, is of pure German stock in both paternal and maternal ancestral lines. His father was John G. Klump, who was born in Germany in 1830 and who was educated in the fatherland in general subjects with the addition of a small amount of instruction in the English. In 1853 he took pas- sage in a sailing vessel and after thirty-six days on the ocean he arrived at New York harbor, soon traveling westward to Toledo, Ohio. During the same year a young German woman named Christina Schober embarked for a trans-Atlantic voyage which continued for sixty-eight days, finally ending at New York in the autumn of 1853. This young passenger also continued westward, her first American home being Adrian, Michigan. In 1854 John G. Klump and Christina Schober were
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united in the bond which made them companions for life. In 1857 a son was born to them who was named John S. and who is the subject of this biography. Of the eight children who constituted the second generation of this family, three sons are living in 1912, John S., William and Albert.
In 1858, when John S. Klump was a child of nine months, the family left Lucas county, where the subject was born, and came to Monroe county, where they settled in Whiteford township. Here he grew up, attending the district school until about fifteen years of age, at which time he became his father's right-hand man on the farm.
At the age of twenty-four he was united in marriage to Miss Mary M. Howenstine, who was born on November 20, 1862, and who was the daughter of Jacob and Nancy (Jackson) Howenstine, the father being a native of Pennsylvania and the mother from Stark county, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. John S. Klump are the parents of one son, named John E., who was born March 11, 1902.
Mr. Klump and his family are members of the Evangelical Associa- tion of South Whiteford church, of which congregation he is an import- ant member, holding the office of a trustee of the parsonage. Politi- cally he is a Republican, although he has not been conspicuously active in party affairs, preferring a quiet life to one of publicity. He is a successful general farmer and dairyman, owning 110 acres of land in Whiteford township.
JAMES A. WHITE. Just as the successful men of the great cities understand that in carefully centralized specialization lies their greatest advantage, so do the leaders of commercial and public affairs in our fair villages learn, on the other hand, the value of wise combination. One Whiteford township citizen who has understood this principle and acted upon it with good results is Mr. James A. White, the well-known merchant, sage justice of the peace and genial postmaster of Ottawa Lake.
Mr. White bases his position upon what he is, rather than what his parents have been. Remote ancestral lineage and genealogical history seem to him of slight importance. Of his parents, therefore, the present biographer has gathered from his information only that their names were Dennis and Miriam (Scott) White, that their children were three in number and that James A. White himself is the only member of the family now living.
Our subject was born in Toledo, Ohio, on September 22, 1866, and was one year old when the family changed their residence to Ottawa Lake. On the parental farm and in the public schools, he grew up, living the life of the proverbial barefoot boy. But he was gifted with more ambition and doubtless more intelligence than the average small boy to whom educational development presents difficulties. It was his purpose to gain from the public school system all the knowledge of books and of life that it so freely vouchsafed him. Therefore he spent five profitable years in the Blissfield high school, after which he gave two terms of pedagogical service to the district schools of Whiteford town- ship His lively interest in the practical as well as the theoretical, how-
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ever, led him to take up the implement business, in which he continued for four years. He later settled upon the business of a merchant as his permanent vocation and proceeded to connect himself with the general store of Ottawa Lake. This business he now owns and has built up in a most gratifying way.
His interest in practical politics, his loyalty to the Republican party and his general efficiency have brought to Mr. White his judicial and other public honors. As postmaster, as township treasurer, township clerk and the incumbent of other offices he discharges his duties in a manner characterized both by ability and faithfulness.
Judge White is a member of Ottawa Lake Lodge, No. 20, I. O. O. F., and also of the M. W. A. Mrs. White is a native of the township and was educated here. Before her marriage she was Miss Elva Cox and was married to Mr. White on October 17, 1888. They have no children. Both are socially popular in Ottawa Lake and their attractive home adds much to the charm of the village.
ALBERT F. KUMMEROW. The world is ever forgetting and learning again the fact that material success alone is not true success. A noted writer of the day has said that successful life consists not in getting a living alone, rather, it is knowing how to live. To an impartial bio- grapher the personality and family of Albert F. Kummerow appear to have fortunately grasped the true ethics of existence, the current of their days being made up of domestic harmony and social sympathy, of logical foresight in things material and high standards in things moral and spiritual.
Mr. Kummerow is moreover, a representative citizen of the county, as were his parents before him. They are John and Dora (Krueger) Kum- merow, who still live in this vicinity. Of their eight children, all are alive and prosperous. Albert Kummerow was born in Whiteford town- ship in the family homstead which has passed into his own possession and in which he now resides. His natal day was August 19, 1878, and the present date shows him to be a highly respected member of the younger generation of successful agriculturists.
Of book lore and its practical application to life, Albert Kummerow first learned in the Whiteford township public schools. While he was growing to physical manhood and mental maturity, a little girl, five years younger was receiving her educational development from the same school system, with perhaps never a thought that her name and fortunes would one day be closely connected with his. This feminine product of Whiteford, then named Mary Moritz, completed her schooling in the aforementioned township. Albert Kummerow, however, when 15 or 16 years of age pursued further his preparation for the duties before him, by attending Davis College in Toledo, Ohio.
His academic acquirement brought to a close, Mr. Kummerow was happily united in matrimonial bonds with Miss Moritz, who was at that time residing in Lenawee county, Michigan. The subsequent years have brought them two children; the little son, Clarence, is at the time of this chronicle six years of age and the baby daughter, Mildred, is but two years old. They are the happy little recipients of lavish maternal care
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and of the solicitude of both a father and mother who believe that "the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are unseen are eternal." Mr. and Mrs. Kummerow are both active members of the German Lutheran church at Ottawa Lake.
Although they are both socially agreeable, Mrs. Kummerow has strong domestic instincts and believes that the greatest womanly success is that of the wife who is a good helpmate and who ever "looketh well to the ways of her household." The head of the house is connected fraternally with Ottawa Lake lodge, No. 20, I. O. O. F. Both he and his wife are members of the German Lutheran Senate Life Insurance Company, in which each carries $1,000.
Politically, he is a Republican, whose loyalty and consistency are appreciatively recognized by the members of his party. His public hon- ors include the office of township highway commissioner and that of deputy sheriff. The efficiency with which he has performed the duties of these offices have enhanced the high esteem with which he and his family are regarded by a large circle of friends.
CHARLES A. GOLDEN. As one of the representative legists and jurists of his native state and county, Judge Golden has served on the bench of the circuit court of Monroe county since 1907, and had pre- viously been called to other offices of public trust,-preferments indica- tive of the unequivocal confidence and esteem reposed in him by the people of his county, which has been his home from the time of his birth to the present. He has been a member of the bar of Michigan for nearly forty years and has dignified and honored his chosen profession through his able services as a practitioner of law and as an able mem- ber of the judiciary of the state.
Judge Golden was born in the city of Monroe, Michigan, on the 27th of March, 1854, and is a son of Patrick and Mary (McDonough) Golden, the former of whom was born in Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland, and the latter was also born in the same county. The parents of Judge Golden were for many years residents of Monroe county, where they were held in high esteem as citizens of sterling character and where the father gave his attention principally to contracting and farming. They passed the closing years of their lives in Monroe City and both were zealous communicants of the Catholic church. Of their children three sons are now living. To the parochial and public schools of his native city Judge Golden is indebted for his earlier educational dis- cipline, which was supplemented by a course in St. Vincent's College, in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. He was graduated in this excellent institution as a member of the class of 1873 and received therefrom his academic degree of Bachelor of Arts. In preparation for the work of his chosen profession he then entered the law depart- ment of the University of Michigan, in which he was graduated in 1876 and from which he received his degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was admitted to the bar, at Monroe, on the 3d of May of that year and forthwith engaged in active general practice in his native city. Indefatigable energy, close application and definite ambition. marked his novitiate in his chosen field of endeavor and he soon proved his powers as a versatile and resourceful trial lawyer and as a counsellor
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admirably fortified in the minutiae of the science of jurisprudence, with the result that his success became secure and cumulative. He built up a substantial and representative law business and eventually became eligi- ble for practice in all of the Michigan courts, both state and federal.
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In the year which marked his admission to the bar, 1876, Judge Golden was elected circuit-court commissioner of his native county, and he retained this office for two years. For nearly twenty years he served as city attorney of Monroe; in 1881 he represented the Fourth ward of Monroe as a member of the board of county supervisors; he was chief of the city fire department from 1885 to 1889; and in the latter year he was given further evidence of popular confidence and esteem by his election to the office of mayor of his native city. As chief executive of the munici- pal government he gave a most progressive and acceptable administra- tion. In 1884 Judge Golden was elected prosecuting attorney of Monroe county, and in this office his services were in all respects timely and effective, the while his success as a public prosecutor greatly conserved his already high professional reputation. He has ever shown a most insistent and loyal interest in all things touching the civic and material welfare of his home city and county and has been a staunch advocate of progressive measures and enterprises. He served with marked zeal as a member of the city board of education and was president of this body in 1889 and 1890. In 1907 he was elected to the bench of the circuit court of Monroe county, and of this position he has since remained the able and popular incumbent. His naturally judicial mind, coupled with his broad and accurate knowledge of the law, has made his rulings on the bench signally fair and impartial, few of his decisions having been reversed by courts of higher jurisdiction. Both he and his wife are earnest communicants of the Catholic church, in which they are zealous members of the parish of St. John, in their home city.
On the 27th of October, 1880, was solemnized the marriage of Judge Golden to Miss Frances L. Soleau, who was born at Brest, this county, and who is of staunch French lineage. She is a daughter of the late Touissant Soleau, who was a representative citizen of Monroe at the time of his death. Judge and Mrs. Golden have four children: Mrs. Jay Harrington, whose husband is connected with Boehme & Rauch Com- pany ; Clayton C. Golden, an attorney, whose sketch appears elsewhere. in this volume; and Daisy Golden and Arthur A. Golden, who reside at home in Monroe.
ADAM H. SCHEURER. A farmer living in La Salle township, Monroe county, Michigan, is well known in his community as a man of ability and energy. He has held several township offices and has made an en- viable record for himself while in them. He was treasurer of Erie town- ship for two years, and has been justice of the peace as well as high- way commissioner for Ida township. He is also a prominent member of the Democratic party in his district.
Born in Amherst township, Erie county, New York, January 19, 1847, he was the son of Theobolt and Rosina (Scheive) Scheurer. Rosina Scheive was the daughter of Philip Scheive, who was for eleven
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years a soldier under the Great Napoleon I and followed his great leader on his disastrous campaign in Russia to Moscow. He came to America in 1812, the year of our war with England, and finding con- ditions of war and strife almost as bad in this country, he decided to return to his native land. Leaving America they were ship- wrecked, losing their ship and every thing they had, but no lives were lost. Adam H. Scheurer is a grandson of George and Magdalena (Graf) Scheurer. George Scheurer, who was the father of five children, died in La Salle township in January of 1878. Theobolt Scheurer was born in Alsace, Germany, and was brought to the United States when he was six years old. He did not come west to Michigan until the fall of 1871, many years after his marriage to Rosina Scheive, who was a native of Erie, Amherst township, New York. Mrs. Scheurer, Adam's mother, died December 27, 1879, but her husband's death did not occur until February 7, 1903. They had ten children, of whom seven are still living, Adam H., Philip, Louise, Lena, Margaret, Mary, and Charles H. Those who are dead are Carrie, Margaret and George.
Adam H. was raised on the farm in Erie county, and attended the common schools there until he was eighteen years old. He remained at home until after his marriage to Mary J. Risius on April 23, 1867. Miss Risius was born in Germany June 29, 1847, but was brought to this country by her parents when she was four years old. Her father, Henry J. Risius was born in Ostfriesland, Germany, November 28, 1820, and died August 30, 1893. Her mother was born November 19, 1812, in the same place, and died September 16, 1900. They had two other children besides Mary, one of whom died in infancy, and the other, Jacob, who married Catherine Hearthaven, and is now living in New York. Miss Risius was educated in the public schools and afterwards in the Williams- ville Academy, and before her marriage taught three terms of school. Before coming west Mr. and Mrs. Scheurer lived for some time in Erie county, New York. They became the parents of six children, Maggie, born June 27, 1868, and now the wife of S. H. Martin of Monroe, Michi- gan, John A., born October 9, 1870, who married Stella Day and is now living in Toledo, Ohio, George T., born June 15th, 1876, who married Maude Laudenslager, and is now living in Erie, Michigan, and three other children who are now dead, Henry R., born March 26, 1873 in Sandusky county, Ohio, and died August 27, 1880, Edward D., born December 3, 1879 in Monroe county, Michigan, and died September 13, 1880, and Hattie E. born December 22, 1881, who at the time of her death, August 19, 1908, was the wife of Roy Rauch. There are eight grandchildren.
Mr. and Mrs. Scheurer are members of the Evangelical Association at Monroe. They own eighteen acres of land near their home.
CHARLES T. SOUTHWORTH, SR., M. D. The late Dr. Charles Tracy Southworth was one of the world's really distinguished physicians and surgeons, and Monroe county has reason to take pride in the fact that here he maintained his home for many years and left a record of large and benignant achievement in the work of his noble and exacting profes- sion. He was a representative of one of the sterling pioneer families of this county and he brought new laurels to a profession which had been
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dignified by the services of his father, the latter having passed to the life eternal a short time after establishing his home in Michigan. He to whom this memoir is dedicated received specially high educational ad- vantages, particularly in the line of his profession, and his career was a varied and eventful one prior to his return to the old home in Monroe, from which he had been absent for a term of years. He is held in affectionate memory in this county and there is all of consistency in ac- cording in this publication a brief record of his long and distinguished career.
Dr. Charles Tracy Southworth was born at Coventry, Chenango county, New York, on the 19th of May, 1827, and his death occurred at his home in the city of Monroe, on the 12th of August, 1884. He was a son of Dr. Tracy Southworth and Ruth M. (Gorton) Southworth, both of whom were born and reared in Otsego county, New York, both having been of English lineage. Dr. Tracy Southworth was a man of fine pro- fessional attainments, as guaged by the standard of the day in which he lived, and for many years he was associated in practice with Dr. George Landon, another of the representative physicians and surgeons of the state of New York. In 1843 Dr. Tracy Southworth came with his family to Monroe county, Michigan, where he continued in the practice of his profession until his death, which occurred in September of the following year, his widow continuing to maintain her home in Monroe until she too was summoned to eternal rest, in September, 1859. He to whom this review is dedicated gained his rudimentary education in the schools of his native state and was sixteen years of age at the time of the family removal to Monroe, Michigan, which continued to represent his home until after the death of his loved and devoted parents. He received his classical education in Oberlin College, at Oberlin, Ohio, and in the University of Michigan, and in 1845 he attended his first course of lec- tures in the College of Physicians & Surgeons in New York city, the present medical school of Columbia University. Subsequently to his graduation in this institution he completed a six months course of special study in one of the leading medical schools of Paris, France, and there- after he served two years as interne in a hospital in the city of Madrid, Spain. In May, 1849, he was graduated in the medical department of the University of Madrid, and in September, of the same year he established his residence in the city of Havana, Cuba, where he was en- gaged in the practice of his profession until March, 1851, when he went to Matamoras, Mexico, whence he removed to the city of Vera Cruz in the following October. In April, 1853, he was commissioned, by the great Mexican leader in the Mexican war, General Santa Anna, division surgeon of cavalry, this preferment having been accorded after General Santa Anna had returned to Mexico as dictator. The Doctor accompanied Santa Anna to the city of Mexico and retained his commission as surgeon until the abdication of Santa Anna, in 1855. In September of that year he tendered his resignation and in the following April he was appointed surgeon general of the army of the north, by Santiago Vidaurri, who was then governor and commander in chief of the military forces of Coah- uila and Nueva Leon. In 1857 Doctor Southworth resigned his com- mission and returned to the city of Mexico, and in October of the fol-
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lowing year he set forth for the United States, by way of Acapulco. He arrived in Monroe, Michigan, on the 5th of January, 1859, and this city thereafter represented his home until the close of his life. He gained a thorough knowledge of both the French and Spanish languages, and his education along all lines was of most liberal order, as may readily be understood from the data already incorporated in this context.
The climacteric period of the Civil war found Doctor Southworth ready to give loyal service in behalf of the Union, and in February, 1863, he was commissioned surgeon of the Eighteenth Michigan Volun- teer Infantry, with which he proceeded to the front and with which he continued in active and effective service until his health became seriously impaired, with the result that he was compelled to resign his commis- sion, on the 11th of June, 1864. Upon the close of his service with this gallant Michigan command, Doctor Southworth returned to Monroe, and here he continued in the active practice of his profession until his death, one of the most able, popular and distinguished physicians and surgeons ever identified with professional activities in southern Michi- gan. He was a man of courtly bearing and most gracious personality, so that he naturally gained and retained secure place in the esteem and confidence of those with whom he came in contact. His human sympathy was of the most insistent order and transcended mere emotion or sen- timent to become an actuating motive for helpfulness. While driving forth to make a professional visit, on the 26th of February, 1884, his carriage was struck and overturned by a runaway team, and he received in the accident an injury of the heart, the result being that he suffered greatly thereafter until his death, which occurred on the 12th of the following August.
Doctor Southworth was an influential and honored member of the American Medical Association, as was he also of the Michigan State Medical Society, of which he served as a vice-president in 1868 and 1869; and he was president of the Southern Michigan & Northern Indiana Medical Society at the time of its convention in Monroe, in 1876. He made valuable contributions to the periodical literature of his profession and ever held the confidence and high esteem of his medical confreres. He was an appreciative member of the Masonic fraternity and served at one time as high priest of River Raisin Chapter, No. 22, Royal Arch Masons, in Monroe. Though he never had any desire to enter the turmoil of practical politics, he was admirably fortified in his convictions as to matters of economic and governmental polity and was a staunch advocate of the principles of the Democratic party.
On the 9th of February, 1859, Dr. Southworth wedded Miss Frances H. Blakeslee, of Monroe, and she died on the 28th of June, 1865, being survived by two daughters, Jennie, now Mrs. Charles H. Wallace and Cora Frances, who died at West Branch in 1894. In September, 1865, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Southworth to Miss Eliza Jane Clark, who was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, on the 5th of December, 1832, and who was summoned to eternal rest on the 25th of May, 1894, secure in the affectionate regard of all who had come within the sphere of her gracious influence. She is survived by three children, Dr. Charles T., Jr., and Clinton B., of each of whom specific mention is
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made on other pages of this publication; and Martha W., who is now Mrs. Fred H. Humphrey of Monroe.
CHARLES T. SOUTHWORTH, M. D. There are many points of salient order that render specially interesting a consideration in this publication of the career of this representative physician and surgeon of Monroe county. He is a native of the city of Monroe and is not only a scion of the third generation of the family in this county but also a represen- tative in the third generation of the profession in which it has been given him to add new laurels to the name which he bears. On other pages is dedicated a memoir to his distinguished father, the late Dr. Charles Tracy Southworth, Sr., and thus further reference to the family history is not imperative in the present connection. It may further be said that the Doctor is one of the most progressive, liberal and loyal citizens of his native city and county, and the high esteem in which he is held in the community has been shown in divers and emphatic ways, not the least of which was his election to the office of mayor of Monroe, of which event in his career more specific mention will be made in a later paragraph.
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