USA > Michigan > Montcalm County > History of Montcalm County, Michigan its people, industries and institutions...with biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of many of the old families Volume II > Part 32
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The subject of this sketch. in his political interests, follows the prin- ciples of the Republican party. He is intensely interested in the question of the prohibition of the liquor traffic, and through the columns of his paper gives valuable support to temperance work in Montcalm county, where he has acted as a member of the Anti-Saloon League since its organization in 1901. Aside from this Mr. O'Brien contributed largely to the Local Option Yellow Jacket, a paper which played one of the most prominent parts in the movement which placed Montcalm county on the dry list. He is now stumping Michigan in the interests of the state-wide prohibition movement. By his native command of the English language and the spontaniety of expression, which have placed the Irish people among the leading orators and writers of the past, Mr. ()'Brien has been able to reach effectively a large number of people who have readily supported him in his convictions along the lines of temperance. The career of Mr. O'Brien has not been devoid of hardships. He has been obliged to meet adverse circumstances and to rise above unjust criticisms, and his success today in his chosen field of endeavor is due largely to the enduring and persevering qualities of his nature which have enabled him to conquer adversity.
Not only in the field of newspaper work has Fred U. O'Brien gained distinction, but as postmaster of Coral. an office he has held for fourteen
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years, he has received a high degree of public trust and confidence. Mr. ()'Brien has also received recognition from the political party of which he is a member, having been chosen to serve as delegate to both county and state conventions at various times.
THOMAS D. DAVIS.
No history of Montcalm county would be complete without fitting men- tion of the life and services of the late Thomas D. Davis, one of the pioneers of Bloomer township, this county, an honored veteran of the Civil War and for years one of the leaders in the life of the community in which the best part of his life was lived. He became a resident of Bloomer township in 1859, making his home in what was then a forest wilderness, and lived to see that section develop from its primeval state to a state of high cultivation, with a proper and well-established social order, and in the good work of bringing about these latter conditions played no inconspicuous part. His widow, who still survives him, was a faithful and helpful pioneer wife and mother and retains the most vivid recollections of the hard years through which the pioneers passed during the period in which the forests were being cleared that the land might be rendered habitable.
Thomas D. Davis was born in the state of Pennsylvania in 1826, son of Aaron and Elmira ( Baker ) Davis. While he was yet a small boy his parents moved to Attica, New York, and there he grew to manhood. He married in 1849 and for ten years thereafter was engaged in farming in the Attica neighborhood. In 1859 he and his little family came to Montcalm county to make a new home in the forest. the promising possibilities of this region at that time beginning to impress the people of the East. Mr. Davis bought two adjoining forty-acre tracts in the northeast quarter of section IO in Bloomer township and. cutting a small clearing in the woods about eighty rods back from the trail which led through that section, erected a small house of logs and there made his first home. At that time there were no established roads through the forest, the pioneers having followed a mere "blazed" trail through the woods nearly all the way from Pewamo. Will- iam Davis, a brother of Thomas D. had settled here a year or two before and had already had his home set up on the tract now occupied by William Davis, son of Thomas D., hence the newcomers were not wholly "strangers in a strange land." Notwithstanding this advantage of kinship with an even
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earlier pioneer, however, the outlook was not encouraging and it was with no small misgiving that Mr. Davis entered upon his new responsibilities. The expense of the trip out here had exhausted practically all his ready cash and when he arrived here with his wife and five small children he had but five dollars in money and no house in which to shelter his family. For the moment he was so disheartened by the bleak prospect then presented that he gladly would have returned to New York if he had had the money for the return trip, but his wife, with the fine courage of the true pioncer, looked forward to the home they should have when the land should be cleared and the country settled and they proceeded hopefully to build their home and were fairly well established when the Civil War broke out. In 1864 Thomas D). Davis enlisted for service in behalf of the Union in Company C, Third Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and was in the service until some time after the war closed, receiving his discharge in September, 1865, hav- ing been confined to a hospital for two or three months previously. Upon returning from the army he bought a forty-acre tract from his brother, on which there was a house near the road, the place where William Davis now lives, and there he made his home until shortly before his death, when he moved into Carson City, where he died in 1900. Thomas D. Davis was a man of earnest Christian character, for many years a deacon in the Baptist church and active in all good works; a good citizen who had done faithfully his part in the work of bringing about proper conditions in the neighborhood of his home.
In 1849 Thomas D. Davis was imited in marriage, near Attica, New York, to Caroline Crawford, who was born at Brighton, near the city of Rochester, New York, in 1831, daughter of Daniel and Mary (Fuller) Crawford, and who is now living in this county at the advanced age of eighty-five, still in vigorous physical condition, as active and alert as most women twenty years her junior. Daniel Crawford was a descendant of Scottish Presbyterians who sought refuge in the north of Ireland during the days of the persecution of those of their faith on the other side of the Irish Sea, one of the earlier descendants of whom, John Crawford, born in County Tyrone, Ireland, died in that county in 1773. His son, John, born in Pound- ridge, Ireland, in 1776, came to America and married Parthenia Lyon, who was born in Bedford, Massachusetts. He died in Saratoga, New York, in 1831. John Crawford. the founder of that branch of the Crawford family in this country, was a man of strong and vigorous character and was noted for his invariable kindness of heart. His son, Daniel Crawford, was
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born at Saratoga, New York, on January 19, 1802, married Mary Fuller and lived near Rochester, where, during the early years of his married life, he was engaged as a brick-maker and later became a substantial farmer. His wife. Mary Fuller, was born at East Bloomington, New York, in 1811, and both she and her husband died at West Bethany, in that state. Their daugh- ter, Caroline, lived near Attica until her marriage to Mr. Davis.
To Thomas D. and Caroline ( Crawford) Davis eleven children were born, two of whom died in infancy, Jane, at the age of eight; Mary, at the age of eleven; Frank and Munroe, at the ages of thirty-one and twenty-nine, respectively, of typhoid fever in 1879, and George, in 1895, leaving a widow, Myrtle (Sperry ) Davis, and four children. Of the surviving children, Emily, widow of Thomas F. Fuller, whose family history is given on another page in this volume, is living on the Fuller farm one mile west and a half mile north of the old Davis farm in Bloomer township, and her aged mother is making her home with her: Charles lives near Butternut: Emmett lives in Sheridan: William lives on the old homestead.
HARVEY E. HOWORTH.
Harvey E. Howorth, a prominent farmer, residing on his farm of three hundred and fifteen acres, located in sections 25, 26 and 36, Bushnell township, Montcalm county, was born in Allegany county, New York, and was the son of George and Mariah ( Shave ) Howorth.
George and Mariah Howorth were natives of England and came to the United States, with those of their children who were born in the old country. and settled in the state of New York. They were the parents of fifteen children, twelve of whom grew to manhood and womanhood, and two are now living : Mary, the widow of Corydan Rice, lives in Palo, Ionia county, and Harvey E., who was but three years old when his father died.
After the death of George Howorth the family remained in New York state for seven years, when the mother with her children moved to North Plains, Ionia county, where they resided for two years, after which they were residents of Berlin for two years, before they came to Bushnell town- ship, where the mother bought forty acres of land. and where she lived the rest of her life.
Harvey E. Howorth began to work for himself at the age of eighteen and soon thereafter bought the home place of his mother and since that
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time he had added many acres to his original purchase. His success has been due to his frugal habits and his active and industrious life.
On October 11, 1879. Harvey E. Howorth was married to Adele Corey, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Corey, and to this union the following children have been born: Hugh, who resides in Lansing; James, a large landowner in Montana and the proprietor of a large elevator, and Mable, the wife of Claire Wright, who assists in the work on the farm of Mr. Howorth.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Corey were the parents of four children, two of whom died in infancy; Charles .A., who is also deceased, and Adele. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Corey were born in New York state.
Fraternally Mr. Howorth is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons. He is a member of the Republican party, but is not an active politician and has never been an office seeker.
MATTHEW GOOBY.
Matthew Gooby is a native of Littleport, England, having been born in Cambridgeshire, May r. 1832. ITe is the son of John and Rebecca ( Rowell) Gooby, and grew up in the country of his nativity. After reaching the age of twenty-two he was married to Elizabeth Padgett. also a native of Little- port. and the daughter of Thomas and Sarah Padgett. In 1860 the couple came to America where they took up their residence in Euclid, Ohio, now a suburb of Cincinnati.
Shortly after the arrival of Matthew Gooby in this country, a call was sent out for volunteers to serve the cause of the Union in the Civil War, and Mr. Gooby, though not yet a citizen of the United States, desired to give his services and his life if necessary to preserve those principles which he believed were right. He took out naturalization papers while in the army and enlisted in Company A, One Hundred and Third Regiment, Ohio Volun- teer Infantry. During the war the subject of this sketch had many varied experiences, including service with Sherman until the fall of Atlanta. and during the two years and ten months of fighting he missed only one day of active service.
At the close of the war Matthew Gooby returned to Euclid, where he remained until the fall of 1866 when he decided to buy a farm in Mich-
(22b)
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igan. The land was located on the north edge of North Plains township. in Ionia county, along the line of Bloomer township. in Montcalm county. The farm, which originally consisted of forty acres, was covered almost entirely with a wild growth of underbrush and timber. The task of clear- ing the land occupied the immediate attention of Mr. Gooby, who worked unceasingly to transform the place into a cultivated region. The wife of the subject of this sketch proved a valuable assistant to her husband during the first great struggle of their life on a farm in the wilderness. Through her help he was able in a short time to clear large tracts of the forest, which he improved and to which he added forty acres ten years later. From time to time he continued to buy small tracts of land until the original farm spread over a large area. For three years he lived near Palo where his wife passed away in 1883. Since 1905. Mr. Gooby has made his home with his children and though he has passed eighty years he is as able as the average farmer to labor on the farm. During his boyhood days the opportunities for receiving an education were extremely limited. Despite the fact that he was deprived of school advantages, Mr. Gooby possesses a mind of unusual quality and in business affairs has gained much more success than many who have had every advantage of the modern schools.
Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Gooby, three claimed England as the country of their nativity. They are now deceased. Those born in Ohio are Keziah, who became the wife of Edward Mull, of Fairwell, Mich- igan; John, who lives in North Plains township. Tonia county, and Emma, the wife of Orson Bogert who resides in Bloomer township, Montcalm county. The following members of the family were born in Michigan, Rebecca, the wife of William Graham, who resides in Bloomer township; Matthew, who makes his home in Tonia county, and Harriet, who married Della Cummings, also of Tonia county.
THOMAS F. FULLER.
The late Thomas F. Fuller, who for years was regarded as one of the most substantial farmers as well as one of the leading citizens of Bloomer township, this county, and who died at his home there in 1913, was a native of New York, having been born in Steuben county, that state, in 1834. son of William and Hannah ( Sanford) Fuller. the former a native of Dutchess county, that same state.
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Thomas F. Fuller grew up in Steuben county and there married Amanda Schuyler, who was born in Wayne county, New York. In 1860 he and his wife and two small children came to Michigan and settled in this county, locating in Bloomer township, where Mr. Fuller bought a tract of timber land just south of the railroad, one and one-half miles west of Carson City, and proceeded to clear away the forest and create a home in the then wilder- ness. In 1864 Mr. Fuller's wife died, leaving two children, Frances R., now the wife of William Davis, of Bloomer township, this county, and Scott, who went to South Dakota years ago. In 1867 Mr. Fuller married, secondly, Emily Davis, who was born near Batavia, New York, and who came to this county early in 1859 with her parents, Thomas D. and Caroline ( Crawford) Davis, who settled on a farm near where Mr. Fuller first settled in Bloomer township. Later Mr. Fuller bought the farm one mile east and one mile north of Butternnt, in this county, where he spent the remainder of his life and where his widow now lives.
Mr. Fuller was much interested in school work and his efforts in behalf of the schools during the formative period of that now well-established farming community did very much toward the creation of proper educa- tional standards thereabont. He was also active in the work of the Free- Will Baptist church and was regarded ever as a leader in such movements as were designed to better conditions in his neighborhood and at the time of his death in 1913 there was a general feeling of loss throughout that community, for he was a man who had done well his part in all the rela- tions of life.
To Thomas F. and Emily ( Davis) Fuller were born three children, Ada A .. Ray T. and Eva V .. all of whom became teachers. Both sisters were graduated from the Carson City high school and from the Normal College at Ypsilanti and the former is now a teacher in the public schools of Grand Rapids, this state. Ray T. Fuller was graduated from the high school at Carson City and from the Medical College at Saginaw and is now superin- tendent of the Sarah Goodrich Hospital at New Orleans, having for six years previous to the time of entering upon his present valuable service been dean of Flint Medical College in that same city. Doctor Fuller married Ida Stuckey, who was born in Ohio and reared in Gratiot county, this state, and to this union three children have been born : Paul, now aged fifteen ; Esther E. and Raymond.
Thomas F. Fuller's brother, Benjamin F. Fuller, was one of the promin- ent pioneers of this county, he having come here as a teacher in 1854. and
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later served as a justice of the peace, supervisor and town clerk. When the Civil War broke out. Benjamin F. Fuller enlisted for service in the Union army and was slain in battle.
BENJAMIN L. SPANGLER.
Benjamin L. Spangler, a well-known farmer of the Carson City neigh- borhood. living in Bloomer township. this county, was born on the farm on which he is now living and where he has spent his entire life, in 1866, son of Reuben and Hannah M. (Long) Spangler, the former a native of the state of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio, pioneers of that section, the former of whom died in 1901 and the latter of whom is still living in the old home there, at the advanced age of eighty-four years.
Reuben Spangler moved to Ohio with his parents when he was a boy and grew to manhood in Ashtabula county. in the latter state, and there he married Hannah M. Long. In 1855 he had made a prospecting trip through this section of Michigan and bought a forty-acre tract along the east line of Montcalm county, in the southeast part of Bloomer township, and later bought sixty more in Gratiot county, but did not make his home in this county until 1865, in which year he and his wife took up their residence ou the woodland tract and there they made their permanent home. At that time that section of the county was very sparsely settled. the roads there- about being but winding trails through the deep forest. The now flourish- ing village of Carson City had not then been laid out and the now long- established county-line road had not then been cut through the woods. For the first two or three winters after coming to this county. Reuben Spangler found occupation in the lumber camps, but presently he got his farm cleared and under cultivation and thereafter devoted his whole time to its proper cultivation. He died in 1901 and his widow is still living there.
To Reuben Spangler and wife were born eight children. four of whom grew to maturity. Those who grew to maturity are Salina, Elma (deceased ). Benjamin and Estella. Salina married A. IT. Pruden and lives near Green- ville, and has three children. Addie. Ehmna and Ida. Estella married J. H. Drew and lives on the old homestead and has six children. Ben. Madge, Meda. Mande, Ruby and Bernice.
Benjamin L. Spangler has spent his whole life on the farm on which he was born and since his father's death has had full charge of the opera-
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tion of the home place, continuing to make his home with his aged mother, who is now one of the oldest settlers in that part of the county, and to whose comfort in her old age he is thoroughly devoted. In his youth he attended the district schools of his home neighborhood and from the days of his boyhood proved a valuable aid to his father in the work of develop- ing the farm. Though still in the very prime of his life. Mr. Spangler may be looked upon as one of the pioneers of that section, which he has seen develop from its primitive forest state to its present condition as a well- established and prosperous farming region, and is in consequence one of the best-known men in that part of the county.
GEORGE F. HARRIMAN.
George F. Harriman, a well-known farmer and stock raiser of Bushnell township. Montcalm county, Michigan, was born in Long Eaton, England, September 21. 1862, the son of George and Emma ( Horton ) Harriman, both natives of England. Accompanied by his eldest brother, Jack, George Harriman, Sr .. came to America, locating in Montcalm county, where he purchased forty acres of land. About six months later, Mrs. Harriman and the remainder of the family came to this country and joined Mr. Harriman in the newly-founded home. This tract was subsequently increased to "ighty acres and here the parents of Mr. Harriman lived the remainder of their lives. To them were born ten children, four of whom grew to maturity. but only three of whom are now living: George F. is the subject of this sketch; Enoch, who is a graduate of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, is now a resident of Springfield, Illinois, and Sam lives in Alden, Intrim county, Michigan.
George F. Harriman lived at home until he was twenty-one years of age. when he was married and moved to twenty acres of land which he had previously purchased, living on this farm for two years. From this place he went to Fairplain township and lived two years, when he moved : Montana and engaged in the cattle business for three years. He then returned to Fairplain township and purchased one hundred acres, on which te lived for eleven years, when he bought the Wescott place, later selling it and moving to his present farm, which is known as "Cherry Farm." This farm consists of fifty acres and besides it Mr. Harriman farms one hundred and twenty acres belonging to E. II. Harriman and ten acres which are
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leased, making one hundred and eighty acres, all in Bushnell township. Mr. Harriman is an extensive breeder of pure-blooded Holstein cattle and has an excellent herd, which is headed by "Pontiac Jewel" and "Butter Boy."
On November 25, 1883, Mr. Harriman was married to Eva Slocum, the daughter of Henry and Martha (Galloup) Slocum, the former of whom was born in New York state and came to Michigan when a young man, and the latter born in England and came to America with her parents when a small girl, settling at North Plains, Ionia county, Michigan. To Mr. and Mrs. Harriman have been born nine children, three of whom, Joe, Vona and Eva, died in infancy. The living children are, Dora, the wife of Claude Barker, who lives on the same farm with Mr. Harriman; Emma, the wife of J. Sitts, of Antrim county; Charlotte, who is a music teacher and lives at home; Inez, Anna and Sam Enoch, all of whom reside at home.
Mr. and Mrs. Harriman and family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and are enthusiastic workers of that congregation, Mr. Harriman being superintendent of the Sunday school. Fraternally, Mr. Harriman is a member of the Fenwick Lodge No. 517. Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he is a past noble grand; also a member of the Gleaners at Fenwick, of which he has been secretary for fifteen years. Politically, Mr. Harriman is a Republican, but has never been an office seeker nor cared to take an active part in politics.
HARRISON PIERCE.
Harrison Pierce, one of the oldest and best-known farmers of Eureka township, this county, who for many years has taken an active part in the affairs of that community, is a native son of Michigan, having been born on a farm in Napoleon township, Jackson county, this state, August 8, 1840, son of Harry and Nancy ( Mason ) Pierce, both natives of Onondaga county, New York, where they grew up and where they were married.
Harry Pierce was a farmer and was reared to that vocation from child- hood. A few years after their marriage he and his wife and their little family came to this state and located in Napoleon township, Jackson county, where they made their home until 1845, in which year they came to this county, settling in Eureka township, near the village of Greenville. Harry Pierce entered a quarter of a section of land there, his tract being divided by the river, and there the family made their home for about ten years.
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Mrs. Pierce died in 1853 and shortly thereafter Mr. Pierce sold his place and moved his family to Greenville. Later he moved to the neighborhood of Grand Haven and from there presently went to Canada, but after awhile returned to Greenville, where and in the vicinity of which he spent the remainder of his life. Harry Pierce and wife were the parents of six chil- dren, namely : Chloe Anne, now deceased, who married C. B. Miner; Edwin R., deceased; James, deceased; Minerva, now deceased, who married James (. Schultz; Lavina, deceased, who married George N. Cole, and Harrison, now the sole survivor of the family, the immediate subject of this biograph- ical sketch.
Harrison Pierce was about five years of age when his parents came from Jackson county and settled in this county and he was about thirteen years old when his mother died. Shortly after that he began working in the luniber woods and was thus engaged for several years, lumbering in the winters and working on farms during the summers. In 1861 he bought a forty-acre tract of the state-asylum land in section 25, of Eureka township, this county, and two years later, on September 27, 1863, was united in mar- riage to Harriet Monroe. daughter of Samuel Monroe and wife, pioneers of that section. After their marriage Harrison Pierce and his wife settled on the forty-acre tract above mentioned and made their home there until the death of Samuel Monroe, after which they moved to the old Monroe home, in order to make a proper home for Mrs. Monroe, and there they have lived ever since, living in the same house in which they were married more than a half century ago. Harrison Pierce is a substantial citizen of his community, the owner of one hundred and twenty acres in section 24 and ciglity acres in section 25, of Eureka township, and his pleasant home on rural route No. 4. out of Greenville, has been for many years noted as one of the most hospitable homes in that part of the county.
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