History of Monroe County, Michigan, Part 82

Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, 1819-1890, ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: New York, Munsell & company
Number of Pages: 882

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CHAUNCEY JOSLYN

Was born at Throopsville, Cayuga county, New York, June 28, 1813. Educated at Tem-

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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY,

ASTOR, LENOX ANO TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

ple Hill, Livingston county. After leaving school he engaged in teaching for five years, when he began the study of law. In 1837 he settled in Ypsilanti. He was elected a repre- sentative to the State Legislature in 1843, ap- pointed a member of the State Board of Educa- tion in 1851, and judge of probate, Washtenaw county, in 1851. In 1851 he was appointed one of the commissioners to construct the St. Mary's Falls ship canal. Was mayor of Ypsi- lanti in 1858 ; elected judge of the twenty- second judicial circuit in April, 1881, on the Democratic ticket ; served his judicial term of six years. His death occurred October 31, 1889.

JOHN STRONG, JR.,

Senator from the fifth district ( Monroe county), was born in Greenfield, Wayne county, Michi- gan, April 7, 1831. Received a common school education and followed farming in that town- ship until 1863. Then he removed to South Rockwood, Monroe county, where he engaged in milling, manufacturing staves, heading and lumber, in merchandise, farming and raising short-horned stock. Was a member of the House of Representatives in 1861, from second district of Wayne county, and from the second district of Monroe county in 1879. Mr. Strong is a Democrat. Was a member of the State Senate in 1880 and re-elected in 1882. Is re- garded as one of the most enterprising, sub- stantial and wealthy men of Southern Michigan.

ARCHIBALD BAIRD DARRAH,

Representative from Gratiot county, was born in Monroe county, December 22, 1840. He prepared for college at the Monroe Academy, and graduated in the classical department of Michigan University in 1868. While a student in the university, he enlisted in 1862 as a priv ate soldier in the Eighteenth Michigan Volun- teer Infantry ; was transferred in January, 1863, to the Ninth Michigan Volunteer Cavalry, in which regiment he served until the close of the war of the rebellion. After leaving the mili- tary service he became principal of the Union Schools at Jackson, Michigan, which position he held for two years, resigning to accept the office of county superintendent of schools. He re- moved to Gratiot county, Michigan, in 1870,

and established the first banking office in that county at St. Louis, where he now resides, en- gaged in the same business. He has held the office of county treasurer of Gratiot county, president of the village of St. Louis, also seve- ral other local minor offices. Was elected to the State House of Representatives on the Re- publican ticket in 1882.

JOSEPH B. GALE

Was born in Monroe (son of Samuel Gale, one of the carly settlers) in 1830, and lived with his parents on the Gale farm, so-called, now known as the county farm, on which the poor- house is erected, until he was twenty-three years of age. Being fond of adventure, he de. termined to seek his fortune in the far west. On his route, the Rock Island Railroad, from Chicago to LaSalle, was partially covered with water from the melting snows, rendering it necessary for persons to wade in front of the engine to know when the track was in good order. From thence he took passage on a boat to St. Louis, and great was his surprise at the change in climate and the contrast between sleighing in Michigan and gardens under cul- tivation and trees in full bloom in South- ern Illinois. From thence he journeyed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, then contain- ing a population of almost 300, where he remained about six years, during which time he made several hazardous trips through Kan- sas and the Indian Territory, where he, with his companions, encountered severe fighting with Indians and losing their horses therein. In the second trip to Kansas he made the ac- quaintance of John Brown, James Lane, John Richie, Col.Holliday, Wm. and E. C. Ross, promi- nent men that were active in the Kansas strug- gles and controversies. In 1859 he was one of the first adventurers to Pike's Peak, and camped on Cherry Creek, the present site of Denver. He undertook and was successful in his enter- prise of carrying freight from Leavenworth to Denver, requiring three months for a trip, tak- ing freight of 600 or 800 pounds with four horses, leaving a bag of grain about every third day to feed on the return trip, receiving as compensation $13 per hundred. They slept at night under their wagons, and learned by ex- perience that horses and mules would awaken them by their uneasiness if Indians or wild

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animals approached them, proving that horses and mules are good guards to give warning of an approaching enemy. Stopping his teams to allow herds of buffalo to pass was a common occurrence, and the hills would often be black as far as the eye could reach with herds of buffalo.

In 1861, when the war broke out, he accom- panied General Lane as a scout, and continued as such with him until the general was elected to the United States Senate, during which time he met with many hairbreadth escapes. He was taken prisoner by the Quantrell band of which the notorious Hart was captain.

He was in Kansas at the time of the burning of Leavenworth, and at 10 o'clock at night, with his comrades, left for Leavenworth and rode forty miles, but on reaching it found the town in ashes, with about twenty citizens murdered. They captured a number of the band and he observed on one tree five of them hanging and learned two more were added the same day. While engaged in government employ as a scout, he was constantly riding through Kan- sas, Missouri, the Indian Territory and Ark- ansas.

At the close of the war of the rebellion he left Leavenworth for Montana in March, 1865, and reached Virginia City August 20th, a dis- tance of over 3,000 miles. The company, for protection against the Indians, consisted of 350 able-bodied men and fifty women and children, and were organized as a military company. On reaching Virginia City the company dis- banded. From this point he traveled about 2,000 miles by compass and an Indian guide, reaching the headwaters of the Powder River and from thence to the headwaters of the Big Horn River, frequently annoyed by the In- dians, who were constantly on the war-path ; from thence to the Yellowstone River, Boseman and Fort Ellis, never daring to send the stock .out to graze with herders without first sending out pickets beyond the herders.

For the next six years Mr. Gale was inter- ested prospecting in Montana when there were no permanent settlers there. On his arrival he invited a friend to take a square meal with him at a restaurant and at the conclusion of the meal threw down a five-dollar greenback, and surprised was he when told his bill for the two dinners was $3 in gold, and that greenbacks passed for but forty cents on the dollar ; then

cigars in addition at twenty-five cents each in gold, or four cigars for a two-dollar bill ; that the smallest change used was quarters. He has often hunted deer and antelope where the beautiful city of Helena now stands, which has grown from a few mining huts to a city of sev- eral thousand inhabitants. Provisions he has known so scarce that flour sold for $220 a bar- rel, bacon $1 per pound, beans $1, coffee $1.25, sugar $1 per pound. Tobacco and whisky at any price holders chose to ask.

Mr. Gale has attended prospecting parties through the country where the brave General Custer with his comrades were massacred. In the fall of 1870 he returned to his old home after an absence of eighteen years. His life has been full of adventures, and limited space pre- vents giving more at length the important events of his life.

He has now returned to the home of his child- hood to spend the evening of his days. Mild and gentle in manner and feelings, yet bold as a lion in emergencies, he is little inclined to speak of his experience, which would be of great interest would the limits of this sketch permit.

Soon after his return from the West he mar- ried Mrs. Harrington and now resides at Mon- roe, Michigan.

STEPHEN BROWN WAKEFIELD,

Son of Simeon B. Wakefield, was born July 29, 1814, in Williston, Vermont, and lived upon his father's farm until twenty-one years of age. He emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, where he re- mained until 1838, when he removed to Monroe, and in 1840 was married to Miss Victoria Shovarre, daughter of Joseph and Sarah Bes- sonette Shovarre, who were early settlers of Monroe county, and of French descent. By this marriage six children were born, three of whom are now living : George S., a prosperous farmer of Raisinville; Mary Victoria, wife of Captain B. H. Alfred, of Monroe ; and Franklin J., of Detroit. Mrs. Wakefield fell a victim to cholera in the fall of 1854. Mr. Stephen B. Wakefield married September 19, 1866, his second wife, Esther, widow of James R. Moore ; her maiden name was Gibson, daughter of Mathew Gibson, who with his family settled in Monroe in 1833. One child was born of this union, Stephen B., jr. Mr. Wakefield on arriv-

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J. B. Wabetill.

UDLIG LIEN ARY.

ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDAT ONS.

Eng ªby TI. Phillips. N.Y.

yours truly Aux thanh

MUNSELL & -NY

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ing at Monroe engaged in the livery and staging business, and carried the United States mail from Detroit to Toledo for nearly thirty years. His large brick livery stable on Washington street was burned on St. Patrick's day in 1868, was rebuilt the same year and the building is still leased for the same business. Mr. Wake- field contracted for and built the Saline plank road to Milan in two years. In 1853. built ten miles of the Erie plank road, of which he be- came the owner. He soon after constructed the Monroe and Flat Rock plank road and was elected president of the same; he also built the Monroe City and Harbor plank road. In 1864 he macadamized two miles of road from Water- loo Mills to the docks, and was a very liberal contributor to the construction of the Monroe, Holly and Wayne Railroad, now a part of the Flint and Pere Marquette Railroad. In 1870 built under contract ten miles of the Canada Southern Railroad between Toledo and Detroit. In 1880 built twelve miles of the railroad be- tween Adrian and Detroit. In 1887 built twenty-five miles of the Nickel Plate Railroad between Painesville, Ohio, and the State of Pennsylvania, and graded the same road be- tween Cleveland, Ohio, and Erie, Pennsylvania. In 1882 built twelve miles of the Michigan and Ohio Railroad between Dundee and Marshall, Michigan. In 1886 built seven miles of the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad. In 1887 built under contract one mile of the Chicago, Santa Fe and California Railroad, and the same year removed two hundred thousand

Was born in Monroe, Michigan, February 16. 1853; his ancestors on both sides were Scotch. His father was born in Scotland, and was a representative of the reliable and best qualities yards of dirt near New Cambria, Mason county, . of the Scottish character. He died when his Missouri. Several three story brick stores on Washington street with a frontage of twenty- nine rods and five feet were built in 1864 by Mr. Wakefield.

Mr. Wakefield, now seventy-four years of age, is living on his old homestead, a farm of thirty- five acres, on which is the celebrated Shaw- nee spring, deservedly popular for its excel- lent medicinal qualities. It is situated one mile and a half south of Monroe, and a resort for those suffering from rheumatism.

During the late war Mr. Wakefield, in com- pany with Joseph M. Sterling, purchased horses for the United States Government, and filled the contract for the commissary department of the Seventh Regiment of Infantry, of which I. R. Grosvenor was colonel. Mr. Wakefield was of great assistance in raising and recruit-

ing the Fifteenth Michigan Regiment of In- faniry, named after Colonel Mulligan, and com. manded by Colonel John M. Oliver.

When the subject of building the Union school was first brought before the public it met with much opposition, and credit is due Mr. Wakefield. Colonel Frazy Winans, Joseph M. Sterling and Jefferson G. Thurber, for the active part taken by them in the cause of education for the masses. When a final vote of submit- ting it to the people was urged, an eloquent speech by the Hon. J. G. Thurber succeeded in securing a majority vote. The grounds were purchased and a fine building was erected. which has ever since been a source of pride and satisfaction to the citizens.

Mr. Wakefield has been an active Democrat, and in 1882 was elected by an unanimous vote justice of the peace of the town of Monroe. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal church. As a citizen he has been honored, as a man esteemed, as a friend reliable in judgment, liberal and kind to the poor. He has been one of the most public spirited men of Monroe, always foremost in advancing the interests and prosperity of the city.

ALEXANDER GRANT

children were quite young, the subject of this sketch being but twelve years of age. Through the unwearied efforts of his faithful mother, he was enabled to gain a good education, complet- ing his course at the high school among the first in his class. Nature not only endowed him with a clear and active mind, but gave him perseverance and a dignity of character, which commanded the respect of old and young. From early childhood he was taught habits of in- dustry, and was energetic and thorough in what- ever he undertook. Alexander Grant entered the Monroe postoffice immediately upon leav- ing school at the age of sixteen, and received ten dollars a month as clerk. He remained in the postoffice in various capacities for two years and a half, when he secured the position of mail-route agent on the railroad from Monroe

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to Holly, Michigan, the road having just been completed. After six months the run was ex- tended from Toledo, Ohio, to Bay City, Michi- gan, and soon after to Reed City, Michigan. His services giving much satisfaction, he was promoted in June, 1874, to the more im- portant route from Toledo to Chicago. He continued upon this line for seven years, fill- ing every position from "roustabout " to head clerk. Mr. Grant left the railroad department to enter the office of division superintendent at Cleveland, Ohio, as examiner, which position he held until October, 1883, when he was de- tailed to the office of general superintendent of the railway mail service, Washington, D. C. Here his work took a wider scope, and he came in direct contact with affairs of the postoffice department of the United States, involving the interest of the whole world. Here he acquitted himself so admirably, and showed such a com- prehensive knowledge of that very compli- cated department of our government, that after filling with satisfaction various import. ant desks, he was appointed chief clerk of the entire railway mail service in December, 1884, and three years after was promoted to the office of assistant superintendent, which he still holds. Mr. Grant has attended faithfully to the interests of the department through many changes in the administration, and has been found indispensible to the different postmaster generals. . His friends are numerous in both parties, and his friends in all parts of the country have manifested a strong desire to have Mr. Grant appointed to a still higher position for which he is eminently qualified.

ELISHA BARDOW HITCHCOCK,

Son of Samuel and Jemima Hitchcock, was born in Amenia, Dutchess county, New York, February 2, 1794. When quite young, his father purchased a farm of nearly 300 acres in Schodack, Rensselaer county, and removed his family thither ; but dying when Elisha was twelve years old, his mother sent him to school until he was sixteen, at which time he entered the store of Schermerhorn & Co., on the Hud- son, where he remained until twenty-one. His eldest brother, who was doing a successful mer- cantile business in Newville, Herkimer county, immediately received him as a partner. Soon

after he married Miss Christina Spoor, daugh- ter of a well-to-do farmer of the same town. The sudden and unexpected termination of the war with Great Britain found them with quite a stock of goods on hand, for which a high price had been paid, and they were obliged to sustain heavy losses. After mature considera- tion it was thought better to close business. When matters were amicably adjusted the younger partner removed to Rensselaer county and commenced farming, occupying a portion of the homestead, which had never been divided. Of their children, the first was born in Her- kimer county, six sons and two daughters were added in Rensselaer county, and four sons born in Monroe county, completed the circle.

May 1, 1834, found us equipped and under way for Michigan, father having been the year before and selected a place for a home. Ar- riving in Albany, 363 miles on the Erie canal took us to Buffalo, where we remained seven days, windbound, but came to Vistula, now Toledo, on the 17th, in time to learn that the man who engaged to build a log house for us had failed to fulfill the contract; how- ever, he met us with two teams to convey us to a place within two miles of our own, where we might find shelter until one could be prepared for us. The house was one room, made of logs, the home of five persons, and with our family of eleven . persons, made us pretty thickly settled. Father bought a yoke of oxen and two cows from a drove near Monroe. A wagon and farm im- plements we brought with us. A man was hired, and at the end of four weeks we moved into our own house, if house it might be called, without door, window, roof or chimney. Oak boards had been procured from a saw mill nearly twenty miles distant. No uncommon sight was the passage of a company of Indians, squaws, pappooses and ponies, along a trail near which our house was built, and occa- sionally they camped for a few days but few rods away. Though at first we felt somewhat uneasy, yet we learned to be less fearful. But the fear of Indians and wild beasts bore little comparison to the fear that took posses- sion of some of us at the prospective Toledo war, as the troops were marching so near us in that direction. The lapse of time, together with the horrors of the civil war that was precipitated upon us, has made that affair to

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appear of less significance, though their cause as President Willits says, was settled in such a way that both sides were victorious.

The first season we were quite fortunate in escaping sickness. The coming of a couple of families tended somewhat to break the monot- ony that had been so apparent before.

In the fall of 1836 our oldest brother went East to attend school, where he remained nearly two years. That winter we enjoyed the first privilege of attending school. A room was fitted up in the chamber of Jackson Hoag's log house. The room was furnished with a few benches, writing desk, and warmed by a stove- pipe passing through. The school embraced the children of the two families, with our old- est sister for teacher. The long vacation seemed to have given a kech relish for study, and the school made fair advancement. That sister tanght the Hopewell school, across the lme, in the summer of 1837; was married December 10th of the same year. The fall of 1840 was one of severe sickness to us; but one escaping, Henry, now a farmer in Southern Iowa. I make brief mention of our father, his illness and death, which occurred August 2, 1844. Though he had never a strong consti- tution, yet he was industrious at work or study, and was, at times, chosen to fill an office in town. He was elected assessor, inspector, and supervisor, as the records will show. I remeni- ber as supervisor he opposed building such an expensive court house, as he thought the county too poor at that time. He had long suffered from an affection of the liver, but had appeared for a time more energetic than usual ; had suc- ceeded well with the harvest and haying, but he took a sudden cold. His disease was ushered in with a chill which the family mistook for ague. A physician was called who decided at once that his case was a very dangerous one, " chronic hepatitis of the liver." All was of no avail for improvement. He first complained on Saturday. After Monday he was too ill perhaps, to realize much about his surround- ings, and died Friday at noon, in the presence of all his family save the one who makes this record, who was attending school in Oberlin at the time. The depressing effeet of the sad news was such that though surrounded by ' many friends, I found I must endure my sor- row comparatively alone. It appeared to me I could never study more; even the thought of

opening a book became painful, and in a few days I returned home only to find that the half of the desolation and grief abiding there had not been told me. Five brothers attended school in Oberlin. The Michigan schools had not then attained their present celebrity. Nine of the whole have taught. Our brothers are for the most part farmers in Bedford. The homestead is now owned and occupied by George, the youngest. Our youngest sister, Charlotte, is the wife of Samuel Southard, farmer, near West Toledo, while one brother in business in Chicago, was recently elected for the seventeenth year in succession, superin- tendent of what is known as " the Moody Sab- bath School," of nearly 2,000 pupils of all ages. If any wonder why we have not made a broader mark, I reply it may be a wonder we have done no worse. While so many other incidents are before my mind, I will simply say we are still trying to work out the problem of mortal life as best we can, according to the light that is in us. ELIZA HITCHCOCK CANDEE. SOUTH WHITEFORD, NOV. 20, 1889.

JEROME B. GALLOWAY.

John and Alinda Galloway settled near Pontiac in 1826. Removed to Monroe county, settled on the farm in Raisinville, on the north side of the River Raisin, ten miles above the city of Monroe, in March, 1840. Kept a hotel, known as the John Galloway Inn, for five years, and passed through all the hardships in- cident to clearing a farm in a new country. Their pioneer neighbors were A. P. Taylor, A. B. Bentley, Michael Warner, A. Barnaby and Jacob Brown.

Jerome B. Galloway, the subject of this sketch, married Lois Bentley April 15, 1855. Enlisted in September, 1861, in Company I, Berdan's First United States Sharpshooters. Served through the peninsular campaign under General George B. McClelland as hospital steward ; was in the field all the time with the field and staff officers ; was mustered out in the fall of 1862, and served in the secret ser- vice until 1864, then enlisted as sergeant in Company B, Fourth Michigan Infantry. Re- mained on duty at Detroit until the following March; then was mustered as second-lieutenant Company A, Eleventh Michigan Infantry, and

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soon after as first lieutenant of same company. Had command of Fort Altoona, northeast of Chattanooga. and of Block House No. Four, East Tennessee, during the summer of 1865. Returned to Monroe, and with his family re- moved to Dundee, Monroe county, in 1876. Was a member of the school board in 1879 and 1880 ; member of the village council two years, street commissioner two years and village marshal two years, and was elected and served as constable eight years in succession. Has four children, one of whom, Charles . F. Gallo- way, aged thirty, resides at Dundee.

RICHARD PETERS.

Of Petersburg, was one of the early pioneers of Monroe county, and his services has been invaluable in aiding to clear up and redeeming an unbroken wilderness from the savages and wild beasts which inhabited it. He purchased from the United States Government some six hundred acres of land, about five hundred of which he cleared and brought into an excel. lent state of cultivation.

He emigrated from Harpersfield, Delaware county, New York, in 1824, at which place he received a common school education, and at which place he was married to Polly Wilcox, and proceeding directly to the spot where the village of Petersburg now stands, where he built a hut and commenced improvements, with Morris and Lewis Wells and their families the nearest neighbors, two miles distant. The last two or three miles of road he cut through the wilderness. The family then consisted of a wife and three children, the former died in 1834, and the latter are all still living. Mr. Richard Peters held himself aloof from all kinds of offices; was highly esteemed as a citizen and a first-class farmer, and though averse to holding office, was, notwithstanding this, frequently forced to accept township offices, and was supervisor of the town of Raisinville eight or ten years, which town then embraced Summerfield, Dundee, Whiteford, Bedford, Ida, London and Milan. He died at the old homestead of inflammation of the lungs after a short illness of six weeks, at the ad. vanced age sixty-four years. His eldest son George was born September 21, 1822, at

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History of Monroe County, Michigan, Part 82

Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, 1819-1890, ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: New York, Munsell & company Number of Pages: 882

Author: Wing, Talcott Enoch, 1819-1890, ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: New York, Munsell & company
Number of Pages: 882