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 6
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On September 19, 1906, he was married to Miss Alice Donelly, who was born, reared and educated in this township, and is a daughter of Charles and Catherine (Emerson) Donelly, of Ash Township. Mr. Southworth is a member of the Odd Fellows Lodge in Carleton, and also belongs to Ash Center Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, in Ash Township. He is now in the prime of life, a man of large physique, with broad intelligence and a rich fund of general information, genial and cordial in manner and universally and deservedly popular.
CHARLES L. VAN HOUTEN. Any man who makes a specialty of pro- ducing things of common use but of a character to give them unusual value, and succeeds in his operations to such an extent that the people around him get the benefit of his enterprise and foresight, is a public benefactor, even if comparatively few persons profit by the industry he carries on. But when the benefits of his work are shared by his whole community and an extensive scope of country outside of that, he is much more a man of service to his fellow men, his immediate locality and his state and country in general.
Charles L. Van Houten, one of the leading farmers and live stock breeders of Monroe county, whose fine grain, hay and live stock farm is located in Ash township, is a man of this kind. By his attention to stock breeding he has aided in greatly improving the stock throughout the township of his residence and a belt of country extending beyond the borders of the county for a long distance on every side; and by his progressive and advanced system of farming he has also raised the standard of that industry and increased its productions in his neighbor- hood through the force and effect of his stimulating example.
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Mr. Van Houten is the proprietor of Oak Grove farm, which is known far and wide as one of the best grain, hay and live stock farms in this part of Michigan. He makes specialties of superior Jersey cattle, Duroc-Jersey hogs, and the necessary crops to maintain them. His farm is in section 3, in this county, and he was born and reared in that neigh- borhood, one-half mile southeast of his present home, and the seat of the interesting and profitable industries in which he is engaged.
His life began on June 3, 1861, and he is a son of Samuel and Eliza- beth (Lautenschlager) Van Houten, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of Michigan. The father came to Michigan and Monroe county when he was but three years old, brought to this part of the country by his parents. They located here in the midst of the wilder- ness, as this region was then, and took up a tract of densely wooded land, on which the father built a log cabin, and which he transformed in time, by arduous and continued industry, into a well improved farm and com- fortable home for himself and his family.
He had eighty acres of land, and on this his nine children were born. Seven of the nine, three sons and four daughters, are living: W. A., Charles L., Clarence, Emma, Clara, Melinda and Alice. Emma, who was an admired school teacher for a few years, is now the wife of C. W. Watson, of Carleton, Michigan. Clara is the widow of Wm. H. Port. Melinda has her home in Flatrock, Wayne county, and Alice, a success- ful and appreciated teacher in the city schools of Walla Walla, Wash- ington, now of Bowling Green, Kentucky. The two children of the house- hold who died were Cora, who passed away when she was four years old, and Albert, whose life ended when he was twenty-one. Their father is well remembered as a progressive and prosperous farmer, an active Republican in political faith and allegiance and a zealous member of the Wesleyan Methodist church.
Charles L. Van Houten was reared on his father's farm and edu- cated in the primitive school in the neighborhood, the best the commun- ity could provide in the days of his boyhood. He remained at home until he reached the age of twenty-six, when he was married to Miss Mary E. Carter, of Berlin township, Monroe county, a daughter of William P. Carter, one of the prominent Englishmen who came to this county in pioneer days, and who is now deceased, and has left a record of duty well and faithfully performed and success in his occupation as a farmer wrung from the soil by his own arduous labor and good management.
Mr. Van Houten moved to the farm on which he now lives in 1910. He has made extensive and costly improvements on its embracing a fine modern residence of eight rooms built on a choice site, a large barn thirty-two by fifty-six feet in dimensions, numerous sheds for grain, stabling for his stock, a modern silo, a hog house and other buildings. He has his farm divided by good fences into fields of convenient size for farming, pasturage and other purposes, and every part of it in a highly advanced state of productiveness.
On this farm, which is one of the most extensively improved and skillfully cultivated in the township, he raises Jersey cattle and Duroc registered hogs in numbers, and has expended considerable time and money in bringing his stock up to the standard required by his exacting
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taste. His herd of Jersey cattle is one of the best in Southeastern Michi- gan, and his hogs are all of the best quality.
Mr. Van Houten's first wife died on November 27, 1902, leaving five children : Leonard C., Adelbert L., John W., Earl F. and Ellen. On July 6, 1904, the father contracted a second marriage, which united him with Miss Eva M. Wagar, a daughter of Ananias Wagar, who died some years ago. By this union Mr. Van Houten became the father of one additional child, a son named Clarence I. In politics the father is a Republican and in religious connection a member of the Evangelical church. He is a man of strict integrity, fine social culture, genial and obliging disposition and a very companionable nature. The people of the whole county know him well and all esteem him highly and hold him in cordial regard.
CONRAD STUMPMEIR. The Model Farm in Ash township, contains some of the best land in Monroe county, and is not only one of the most valuable in the township in which it is located, but a monument to the enterprise, industry, perseverance and skill of its proprietor, Conrad Stumpmeir, who redeemed it from the waste and made it what it is. When he took hold of it he had on his hands what looked to casual observers an unpromising undertaking. But he saw further than they did, and felt sure he could make an excellent farm of the wild tract on which he had located, and this he proceeded to do in spite of the jest- ing and sometimes jeering remarks of his neighbors and passers by. He has demonstrated the correctness of his judgment in the matter, and the people around him now have great respect for his opinions on all subjects of general interest.
Mr. Stumpmeir was born in Monroe county, Michigan, on Septem- ber 18, 1857, and is a son of John and Catherine (Seibert) Stumpmeir, natives of Germany, and reared and educated in that country. The father was born at Baden and the mother at Baden in the Fatherland. They came to the United States in early life and located in this county. There were inducements for them to remain in the eastern part of the country, but the mighty west won them with its large promise and wealth of opportunity, and they wisely decided to cast their lot in with it.
They passed the remainder of their days in this county, profitably engaged in farming, and both died here, the father at the age of seventy- four, after a residence of sixty years in this country, and the mother when she was eighty-one. They were devout and consistent members of the Lutheran church, and were guided by its teaching in their daily lives, living correctly themselves and training their children up in accordance with the same rules of action that guided them. Their off- spring numbered seven, six of whom are living.
Conrad Stumpmeir grew to manhood on his father's farm and obtained his education in the public school near at hand. He began helping to clear the woodland on which the family lived and prepare it for cultivation in his boyhood, and he has never been idle since. At the age of twenty-one he was married to Miss Sophia Webber, the marriage being solemnized at Center Creek. Mrs. Stumpmeir was born, reared and educated in this county. She is a daughter of John and Elizabeth
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(Piester) Webber, natives of Germany, who were among the early set- tlers in Monroe county. Father is deceased, but mother is living, aged eighty-seven years.
Conrad Stumpmeir first located on eighty acres of his present farm. The soil was rich, but the land was swampy and overgrown with trees and undergrowth of little value. He cleared the land, tiled and drained it with judgment, and studied its requirements and possibilities in the way of cultivation. By persistent industry and intelligent handling he has made it one of the most productive farms in Monroe county. As he prospered he improved it steadily with good buildings, and now has a fine dwelling house of eleven rooms, all well furnished, one of the largest barns in the township, the original structure being thirty-six by eighty-six feet in size, and an annex recently added, being thirty-six by sixty-two. IIe has also built a granary twenty feet by twenty-six, a hog house twenty by thirty-six, and a chicken house eighteen by forty feet in dimensions.
"The Model Farm," which is Mr. Stumpmeir's most valuable posses- sion, now contains one hundred and sixty acres, and in addition to this he owns one hundred and twenty acres in another well improved farm two miles east of this one. He has been offered $150 per acre for his land, but it is not for sale, and no offer is considered. On these two tracts of land he is extensively engaged in general farming and raising live stock on a large scale, making specialties of horses, cattle and hogs, and raising and feeding them in large numbers. He also carries on an extensive business in raising chickens for the markets as well as for his own use, and gives every department and feature of his industries intelligent and careful attention, making them all pay good returns for his labor and the expert knowledge he applies to them.
Mr. Stumpmeir and his wife have had seven children, six of whom are living : Anna Wallace, William, Henry, Rose, Mary and Edwin. Henry lives on and cultivates the farm two miles east of his father's home. Rose is the wife of Wm. Fox, and they have their home in this township. The rest of the children are living at home with their parents. A daughter named Emma died when she was eleven years old.
The father of this family is a firm and faithful member of the Repub- lican party in politics, and also belongs to and takes an active part in the Ash Center Grange, Patrons of Husbandry. He and his wife belong to the Lutheran church, which the children of the household also attend. They are all liberal supporters of church interests gener- ally and of all other good and worthy agencies working for the benefit of the community. The father is in the prime of life, genial, frank and sincere by nature, upright and straightforward in all his dealings, and is universally esteemed in all parts of Monroe county and those which adjoin it.
ALEXANDER TODD. An excellent farmer, a broadly and zealously progressive citizen, a valued public official who has made his mark on the public institutions, utilities and general improvements in his township, and a good all round man from every point of view, Alexander Todd, the present (1912) highway commissioner of Ash township, Monroe
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county, is devoting his life and energies to the welfare of the residents of his township and county in a manner that tells greatly to their ad- vantage and his own credit.
Mr. Todd is serving his second term in the office he holds, and the duties of which he is performing with such general acceptability. He has charge of the maintenance of about ninety miles of roads, and every- thing appertaining to them. These roads he has kept in prime order during his tenure of the office of highway commissioner, and has also built two iron bridges, which the people of this and other townships find vastly convenient for their use, and for the enterprise displayed in their erection, they hold Mr. Todd in very high approval. But they knew what he was when they elected him to his present post. He had previously served them well and wisely as overseer of the township, and they were wise to his ability and good judgment as a township official.
Mr. Todd is a native of this township and has passed the whole of his life to this time in it, and as a participant in its welfare and contributor to its progress and improvement from his youth. He was born and reared on the old family homestead, where his life began on November 22, 1870. His parents, Nathan and Elizabeth (Jones) Todd, were early settlers, locating in this county while yet the wild denizens of the forest, man and beast, still roamed at will in the region and the trail blazed by the red man was in many cases the only pathway in the wilderness.
Mr. Todd's parents were noted for their honesty, industry and gen- erous frontier hospitality, and the theories and practices which gov- erned their daily lives were instilled into their children by patient teach- ing and admonition, and best of all, by the force of consistent example. In founding a new home for his offspring in the western wilds, Nathan Todd followed the example of his father, who located in Columbiana county, Ohio, when that region was but little beyond the dawn of its settlement and civilization. There his son Nathan was born and reared, and there he obtained what education the subscription schools of his boyhood could give him.
In 1860 he was united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Jones, also a native of Ohio, and in 18- they came to Monroe county, Michigan, with the children they then had and took up their residence on a fine tract of unimproved land. By industry and thrift they converted their wild domain into a well improved and highly productive farm, and on this they reared their family of seven children, four of whom are living : John W., who resides at New Boston, Wayne county ; Mary, the wife of Daniel Cronenwett, who has her home in this township; Alexander, the immediate subject of this brief memoir; and Emily G., who is the wife of Howard MeLaughlin, and a resident of Ash township; Benjamin died at the age of twenty-three ; Minerva (Mrs. Ervin Barnum) at the age of thirty-nine, and Jane (Mrs. Frank Harwood) at the age of fifty-nine. The father died on May 31, 1912. He was a farmer all his life, and from the dawn of his manhood to the end of his days gave his allegiance and service to the Democratic party in political affairs.
Alexander Todd was reared on the old family homestead in this town-
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ship, educated in the country school near his home, and trained to habits of strict honesty, zealous industry and alert progressiveness, as has been stated above. He learned the ins and outs of mercantile life by practical experience. For ten years after his marriage he lived on the home farm and cultivated it for his father. In 1907 he bought the fine farm of fifty acres which he now owns, lives on and cultivates, and which he has im- proved with a modern dwelling house and other good buildings, and made one of the best farms in the township of its size. The land is rich, and he knows how to handle it to get its best yield. It is located in one of the best farming regions in the county, half way between Carleton and Rockwood, and is known throughout the locality as "The Midway Farm."
Mr. Todd has given his land every facility for doing its best in the way of productiveness, and it is responding to his enterprise with a generosity altogether unusual. He tilled all of it that was wet at times, and on every acre he has bestowed study and care to meet the require- ments of the soil and secure the largest return for his labor. His dwell- ing contains nine rooms and is conveniently arranged, well furnished and built and kept in order in a manner that shows refinement and good taste. He has also built commodious barns and sheds for housing his live stock and crops, and put up new fences all over the place.
On May 1, 1895, Mr. Todd was married to Miss Minnie Walz, an intelligent lady of good family, and she has been a true helpmate to him. She was born, reared and educated in Detroit, and is a daughter of John Jacob and Julia (Cronenwett) Walz, natives of Germany who came to this country and located in Detroit at early ages. The mother died in that city at the age of fifty-four and the father when he was seventy- three. He was a baker by trade, a Protestant in religion, and a good man in every relation of life. He and his wife became the parents of nine children, seven of whom are living: Lena (Mrs. Roehrig) ; Charles ; Minnie (Mrs. Todd) ; William; Mary M .; George and Lillie. Of the two who are deceased one died in infancy and a daughter named Matilda, passed away at the age of twenty-seven years.
Mr. and Mrs. Todd have one child, their son Harold, who is now (1912) ten years old and in the fifth grade of the public schools. In his political faith and allegiance Mr. Todd is a firm and faithful member of the Democratic party. He is progressive and enterprising in regard to public improvements of all kinds, wise in counsel concerning them and energetic in action in promoting them. In all the duties and claims of citizenship he walks uprightly, stands firm in fidelity, and is always ac- tive to the limit of the requirements. The people of his township honor him as one of their best and most representative men, and he is altogether worthy of their highest respect and regard.
AUSTIN B. CHAPMAN. It is not possible for every son of a prominent and successful father to attain distinction along the same lines, but in the case of Austin B. Chapman, of Rockwood, Michigan, it appears as though his father's mantle had fallen upon his shoulders. The elder man belonged to that class of early settlers which made possible the won- derful development of Monroe county from a wild and unproductive
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wilderness into one of the garden spots of the state, and the son has shown himself possessed of the qualities of mind and spirit that made his father so successful. Austin B. Chapman was born on his father's old homestead farm in Berlin township, Monroe county, Michigan, in No- vember, 1851, and is a son of Austin B. and Catherine (Burton) Chapman.
The ancestors of Austin B. Chapman on the paternal side were early settlers of the New England States, whence they came a number of years prior to the Revolutionary war, while on the maternal side he is descended from early residents of the Empire State, and his great- great-grandfather was held prisoner by the Indians for a time until he was able to make his escape. Joseph Foster, the paternal grandfather of Austin B. Chapman, removed from Vermont to Wayne county, Ohio, about 1833 and settled at Sandusky, where he spent two years. Sub- sequently he came to Gibraltar, Michigan, where he spent the remainder of his life, his death being caused by drowning while he was bathing in the Detroit river there. He had three sons: Austin B., David and Hiram.
Austin B. Chapman was born at Barnstable, Vermont, in 1824, and came to what is now the woods of Berlin township about 1835, later buying government land and clearing a small space for a log cabin, in addition to which he built the first road through the woods, which is known to this day as Chapman's Road, and was at one time one of the best highways in the county. At this time he decided to settle down in a home of his own, and accordingly asked for the hand of Miss Catherine Burton, a young woman of sixteen years. Her father, however, strongly objected to the union, considering his daughter too young, and an elope- ment was eventually decided upon and carried through in a romantic manner, the young lady escaping from her bedroom window after night- fall, joining her sweetheart, and then rowing across the river, to a spot where Mr. Chapman had tethered their ponies. Mounting, they has- tily rode five miles to the home of Justice of the Peace Arzeno, who made them man and wife, and they returned to receive the parental forgive- ness and blessing. They at once commenced housekeeping in the little log cabin, which still stands as one of this township's landmarks, on sec- tion 28. After improving his sixty acres of land, Mr. Chapman secured eighty acres more in exchange for a pony and a coat, from an eastern man who was compelled to dispose of his land before returning to his former home. In 1876 the original log house was supplanted by a mod- ern brick residence, which cost $8,000 and was the finest residence in the county at that time. At the time of his death the eighty acres which he had secured so cheaply were worth in the neighborhood of about $16,000. Throughout his life Mr. Chapman was a hard and industrious worker. giving his attention to any honorable transaction which gave promise of proving profitable. Among other contracts he did a great deal of fencing for the Lake Shore Railroad, and during a whole season boarded a gang of fifty railroad men. His capital was invested principally in land, and at the time of his death he owned 600 acres of Monroe county soil, most of which was improved. Both he and his wife were active in church work, first belonging to the Methodist Episcopal church, of Flat Rock,
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while Mr. Chapman subsequently joined the Congregational congrega- tion, and built the first church of the denomination at Flat Rock, in addition to which he erected the Chapman schoolhouse. A man of strong physique, weighing 200 pounds, and standing six feet, two inches, he was noted for his strength, but never took advantage of those weaker than he, respecting the rights of others in personal matters just as he did in affairs of a business nature. He was originally a Democrat, but at the time of Abraham Lincoln's nomination, cast his vote for the mar- tyred president, and ever after voted the Republican ticket. He served his township as justice of the peace for sixteen years, and made a record in his official capacity that would serve as a guide to those who desire the respect and esteem of their fellow-citizens. His death occurred in 1903, his wife having passed away some time before at the age of sixty- four years. She was a courageous pioneer woman, cheerfully and faith- fully doing her share in the development of the section, and carefully rearing her children to habits of industry and honesty. Known through- out the township for her many lovable qualities of mind and heart, her death was sincerely mourned, not only by her immediate family and friends, but by all who had been influenced by her wholesome Christian life. She and her husband had a family of four children, as follows: Cornelius, who died at the age of eight years; Austin B., Jr .; Washing- ton, whose death occurred when he was sixteen years of age; and H. H., of Ypsilanti, Michigan, who also owns a finely cultivated tract of land in Berlin township.
Austin B. Chapman, Jr., was rocked to sleep in the sugar-trough cradle of pioneer times, and early in life began to assist his father in cultivating the old home place. He was granted somewhat better educa- tional advantages than fell to most of the youths of his day and vicinity, attending the public schools of Berlin township and the Monroe Normal School, and by the time he was sixteen years of age he was established as a school teacher, although he continued his studies at night, being am- bitious and industrious, and desirous of obtaining the best training possible. When he was only nineteen years of age, he was married to Mary Van Riper, a young woman of refinement and good family, who was born, reared and educated in Monroe county, and was a daughter of Nicholas and Mary (Chase) Van Riper, descendants of Pennsylvania Dutch settlers. They are both deceased. Mrs. Chapman's brother, Henry C., served during the Civil war; another, W. H., is a resident of Holly, Michigan, being a railroad man; and her sister, Eva, married a Mr. Cox. After his marriage, Mr. Chapman located at Brownstown, but soon returned to Berlin township, where he was for forty years engaged in farming and stock-raising. In 1911 he organized the Rockwood State Bank, with a capital of $20,000, and he is still president of this institution, his associates in the venture being David Valsance, W. M. Milliman, first and second vice presidents, and Harley A. Wagar, cashier. This is considered one of the absolutely reliable and substantial banking houses of Monroe county, and its officers are recognized as ster- ling business men of unquestioned integrity.
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