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 43
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In 1908 George W. Holcomb transferred his services to the Fitz- patrick cheese factory at Butternut, this county, and was there engaged for three years, during which time he became thoroughly acquainted with the process of manufacturing cheese. He then was sent to Crystal, where he helped Mr. Fitzpatrick install a cheese factory and for two years operated the new factory in the interests of the owner, at the end of which time Mr.
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Fitzpatrick withdrew from the business and it passed to the control of the Crystal Cheese Company, a corporation of local men, and since that time Mr. Holcomb has been managing the factory, which has proved a very profitable concern, its product being in wide demand.
In 1906 George W. Holcomb was united in marriage to Lulu M. Henry. who was born at Lake Odessa, this state, daughter of Joshua and Susan M. (Van Houtten ) Henry. Joshua Henry was a native of Virginia, who with- drew from that state upon the declaration of secession and went to Ohio, where he enlisted for service in the Union cause in a battery of light artillery, during which service a cannon fell on him, causing injuries which years later indirectly cansed his death. Upon the close of his military service Mr. Henry came to Michigan and settled in Ionia county, where he engaged in farming, and there he married Susan Van Houtten, who was born near the town of Tonia. Mr. Henry died in 1888 and some time later his widow married Martin Beaver and now lives at Woodbury, in Eaton county, this state. To Mr. and Mrs. Holcomb one child has been born, a daughter, Pauline M., born in 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Holcomb are members of the Congregational church and the former is a Mason.
ALBERT J. HOLCOMB.
Albert J. Holcomb, a well-known retired farmer of Bloomer township, this county, now living in the pleasant village of Butternut, where he and his wife have a very comfortable home, and where they are enjoying the ample rewards of the years of stern toil which they had to face in pioneer days, is a native son of Michigan, having been born on a pioneer farm in the neighboring county of Ionia, this state, on August 17, 1848, son of Jesse and Samantha ( Kendall ) Holcomb, both natives of New York state, but pioneer residents of Ionia county, where their last days were spent. Jesse Holcomb was reared as a tailor, but upon coming to this state became a farmer and so continued the rest of his life.
Growing up on a pioneer farm. Albert J. Holcomb's youth was not marked by much leisure, nor did he have many advantages in the way of schooling and he was not able to enter the high school at Ionia until he was nineteen years old, after which he spent three or four terms there, acquir- ing there an excellent foundation for the broader course of self-study which marked his after years and made him a well-read and well-informed man
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His father died on May 9, 1869, and when the paternal estate was settled, Albert J. received five hundred and forty-two dollars as his share of the same. He bargained for a farm in Crystal township, this county, and made his payments on it by working in the lumber camps, and at the same time doing what he could to clear his land. In the fall of that year, November 22, 1869, he married Ella Root, who was born in Jackson county, this state, on March 25. 1852, daughter of James N. and Clarissa ( Slack ) Root, and who was educated in the schools of Ionia, and he and his bride began housekeeping in a little log house which they found already crected on the place he had bought and there they made their home for fourteen years. Mrs. Holcomb had the true spirit of the pioneer and ever was a valuable and competent helpmate for her husband. The first year after their marriage she taught school while her husband was working in the lumber camp and in many ways aided and encouraged him in the arduous task of clearing the land. It was hard work, of course, and Mrs. Hol- comb's parents made every effort to dissuade them from their pioneering task, but they were not casily discouraged and by their united efforts not only eventually attained success financially. but set a worthy example. In time the land was cleared, an orchard was planted, more commodious build- ings were erected and the once forest wilderness tract became a well-culti- vated and well-kept farm, Mr. Holcomb adding to the same. as he prospered, until when he sold out and moved to Butternut in the spring of 1914 he was the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of choice land. During the days of his active farming Mr. Holcomb had devoted considerable atten- tion to the raising of sheep and cattle and always kept good horses, Mrs. Holcomb, as well as her husband, always having been a lover of good horses.
During their residence on the Crystal township farm, Mr. and Mrs. Holcomb were attentive to the public welfare as well as to their own inter- ests and ever were regarded as among the leaders in the social, civic and religious life of the community, always taking part in whatever movements promised well for the general interest, particularly in the educational and cultural way. Mr. Holcomb for two terms served in the capacity of justice of the peace and for ten years was assessor of the school district, also hold- ing minor public positions at other times. He is an ardent Prohibitionist and for years has been one of the most active workers in the anti-saloon movement in that part of the county, his personal endeavors undoubtedly having done much toward carrying the local-option measure in that town- ship. Both Mr. and Mrs. Holcomb are earnest members of the Methodist
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church at Vickeryville and during the time of their residence in that neigh- borhood the former was superintendent of the Sunday school, while the latter was secretary of the board of stewards. Mrs. Holcomb was president of the Woman's Foreign Missionary Society at Vickeryville and since mov- ing to Butternut has been elected to a like position with the society of the same name there, while both she and her husband continue to take an active part in church and all other works.
Mr. and Mrs. Holcomb have no children of their own, but they have an adopted son, George W. Holcomb, who was born at Mud Lake, near Fishville, son of Daniel West and wife, the former of whom was a veteran of the Civil War. Mrs. West died when her son was four years of age and Mr. and Mrs. Holcomb adopted the motherless child and reared him with all the love and devotion they could have bestowed upon a child of their own. George W. Holcomb, who is now manager of the extensive cheese factory at Crystal, this county, and concerning whom further mention is made in a biographical sketch relating to himself, presented elsewhere in this volume, married Lulu Henry and has a daughter, Pauline. Mr. and Mrs. Holcomb also reared Mrs. Holcomb's nephew, Frank Root, son of Adelbert G. and Mary (Caswell ) Root, the latter of whom died when her son, Frank, was eight years of age, whereupon Mr. and Mrs. Holcomb took the motherless lad into their home and reared him until he was sixteen years of age, at which time he went to Tonia, where he has since lived and where he is engaged as a cement worker. Frank Root married Minnie Harder, of near Hubbardstown.
WILLIAM II. PETERMAN.
William H. Peterman is the owner and operator of two hundred and . forty acres of land, located one mile west of the town of Sheridan, in Sidney township, Montcalm county, Michigan, ten to thirty acres of which is devoted to the raising of potatoes each year. This home has been paid for from the proceeds of his potato crops. He is also engaged in the breeding of Shorthorn cattle and Ohio Improved Chester hogs, all of which are registered stock. He was born on September 1, 1856, in Jackson, Trumbull county, Ohio, and is the son of Andrew and Delilah (Ford) Peterman, both natives of Pennsylvania. They arrived in Montcalm county, Michigan, on August 1, 1876, and located in section 28, of Sidney
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township, where their deaths occurred. They are both buried near Sidney Center.
William H. Peterman was educated in the public schools of his native state, and then engaged in the operation of a shingle-mill for ten years. He operated the first shingle-mill for Dan Gardner in Sidney township. On September 10, 1879, William H. Peterman was united in marriage to Emma Hall and they are the parents of ten children: Ernest, Wilber, Chester, Ray, Arthur, William, Retta, Fannie, Dora and Nora. The mother of these children was born in Sidney township, Montcalm county, Michigan.
In 1882 Mr. Peterman purchased forty acres of land and engaged in farming, adding to and improving the place until he sold it in 1900. He then purchased eighty acres which has been added to until he now has a large, productive farm. He and his wife are both members of the Ancient Order of Gleaners and in his political affiliations he is a Democrat. They are old residents of this section and are much respected by those who know them.
JOSHUA H. NOAH.
Joshua II. Noah is one of the many brave and loyal men who, through the crisis of the Civil War, fought for the preservation of the Union. He is a native of Portage county, Ohio, and his birth occurred on March II, 1837. Ile is the son of J. V. Noah and his wife, Ruth (Fox) Daniels, a widow, and his education was received in the district schools of his native county, having remained there until seventeen years of age. In October, 1855, he and his father came to the state of Michigan where they pur- chased a farm in Sidney township, this county, all heavy timber, and began building a log cabin, preparatory to the coming of the family nearly one year later. J. V. Noah was active in the church and political life of the community until his death, which occurred on his farm in Michigan. He was a Whig and later a Republican. He and his wife were members of the Congregational church.
On August 2, 1861, Joshua H. Noah enlisted in Company H, Eighth Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and served with the Army of the Potomac until September 27, 1864, at which time he received his honorable discharge and returned to Montcalm county, Michigan, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1860 he was married to Emeline Amsbury, of Fairplain township, and to them were born five children: Clarence, who
JOSHUA H. NOAH.
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was born in 1861 and is now serving as township clerk of Sidney town- ship and farming in Montcalm county; Earny, a barber, of Battle Creek, Michigan; Minnie, wife of William Drews, of Sidney township; Ralph, living on his father's farm, was married on December 10, 1913, to Anna Jensen, who was born in Sidney township, and they have one son, Howard. and Celia, who is living in Detroit, Michigan, employed by the Saxon Motor Company. Joshua H. Noah has been chairman of the local relief commission of the Grand Army of the Republic for the past twenty-five years. The death of his wife occurred on August 6, 1913, and she was buried at Sidney cemetery.
Mr. Noah has always been a Republican, and voted for Lincoln in 1860 and 1864. Hle never aspired for office. He moved on his present farm in the early seventies and made all of the improvements on the place. He has cleared between forty-five and fifty acres, and has sixty acres in the home place. He carries on general farming. Hle cut timber a good deal of the carly days. During the war he was one of forty-five men who enlisted in the army and now there are only three left-William Noah, Joshua H. Noah and Orange P. Noah. At one time there were forty-five saw and shingle mills in Sidney township and there are none at the present.
The following reminiscence of his sixty years' residence in Montcalm county was written by Joshua H. Noah in February, 1916:
"More than sixty years have passed since I came to Montcalm county, then an unbroken wilderness, and settled in Sidney, one-half mile west of the center of township, then unorganized. But few people know the trying times we had in trying to start a little improvement to help us eke out a living, as all of our supplies had to come from Greenville, as that was the only place in the county where we could get anything in the line of eatables or clothing. At that time Greenville was but a small berg with but one house on the north side of the river. that belonged to the grist-mill for the miller's use. Not a tree cut; all the angling roads from northwest and northeast headed for the dam where they crossed the river. Now what a change. In 1855, in December, I took my rifle and found the government survey and followed the line east and found the center or section corner, the center of Sidney. At that time not a brush was cut nearer than where I now live. one-half mile west of the center. On May 15, 1856. my father's family and a few others landed at Sidney with two covered wagons, the end of a long journey from Ohio, with a party of thirteen people, and seven of that party are still living.
(20h)
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"Oh, what an undertaking that was to try to make a home in the deep wilderness. There was little money in circulation at that time. Shaved shingles, lumber, deer pelts, furs and bear skins and even making grubs to bind lumber rafts on the river was about all the legal tender we had. 1 well remember the first wedding we had in this town. There was a couple that wanted to get married and they sent to Fairplain and had a justice of the peace come and do the job. After the ceremony was performed, the groom said if his pumpkins did well he would pay him in the fall. I think he got his pay. Later this groom and justice of the peace enlisted for the Civil War and both were in the same company that I was and both got killed. We all left Greenville for the war on the 16th day of August, 1861. About the war I will say nothing, only this-we had a lot of soft fun and a pile of hard fun.
"Speaking of the war reminds me of what did happen. As I said be- fore, there was but little money in circulation, consequently most of the young men that had just started in the wilderness had some store bills. I owed six dollars all told, and as we were about ready to start for war Mr.
came to me and said I owed him one dollar and that he wanted it. I had a little money but I wanted to take a little with me, but that did not satisfy him, so I had to give my note for one dollar, given on the 16th day of August. 1861. 1 do not remember when it became due and it may not have become due yet, as it has never been presented for payment. I wish they would present it. as I would like to pay the principal but not any interest. Well, that put me to thinking that I was committing some awful crime. 1 owed M. Rutan and J. M. Fuller each $.50, so I went and saw them as I did not want to go to war for their benefit with a rope hanging around my neck, but I found them built of better material. They both said, 'Yes, if you ever come back you can pay us then if you want to.' These two men were paid the first week after my return.
"Our town was organized in 1858 and the first township meeting was held that spring. There is only one of the first township officers alive today. My father was our first postmaster and he held the office for a number of years with only four dollars a year salary, but later on he got twelve dollars a year. But what a change I have seen from a solid wilderness to beautiful farms and farm buildings. One of my eyes has kept a close touch on Green- ville and the other on Sidney for sixty years. There is one thing I want to say, I would not give my experience of pioneer life and my experience of three years in the army for the best farm in Montcalm county."
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GEORGE THOMAS HILLIS.
One of the leading farmers and stock raisers and a man who is well known among the citizenship of Douglass township, Montcalm county, Mich- igan, is George Thomas Hillis, who was born in Simcoe county, Ontario, Canada. on July 18, 1872, a son of Hugh C. and Margaret (Boyd) Ilillis, natives of Canada, the former born in Kingston, on December 18, 1844, a son of Joseph and Jane Hillis, natives of Ireland; the latter a daughter of Robert and Ann Jane ( True) Boyd, natives of Ireland.
Hugh C. Hillis grew to maturity in Canada, where he was a farmer until the eighties, when he moved to Montcalm county, Michigan, and set- tled in Douglass township, on a farm of forty acres. Later, the elder Hillis sold his original farm and bought three hundred and twenty acres of land where he now lives, two hundred and fifteen acres of which land Hugh C. Hillis has cleared and improved with good buildings. he living as a general farmer on forty acres, the remainder of his acreage having been apportioned to his sons. After the death of his wife, Margaret, Hugh C. Hillis, in 1907, was married to Mrs. Ann Marion, there being no children by this marriage.
Hugh C. Hillis is a member of the Presbyterian church, as was his first wife. Ann, the present wife of Mr. Hillis, is a member of the Seventh- Day Adventist church. Hugh C. Hillis, for about four years, was road supervisor for Douglass township, and for many years has been an active and loyal Republican. Hugh C. and Margaret Hillis were the parents of four sons: Joseph Charles; George Thomas and Robert John, of Douglass township, and Hugh Crozier, who is deceased.
George Thomas ITillis received his education in the public schools of Ontario, Canada, after which he lived at home until at fifteen years of age with his parents, he came to Westville, Montcalm county, Michigan, and worked on the home farm for some years. About 1901, following his mar- ringe, Mr. Ilillis moved to his farm of eighty acres and cleared his land, removed the stumps and built the necessary buildings, he now living on this farmi and engaging in general farming, together with the raising of consider- able quantities of good grade live stock.
On December 18, 1901, George Thomas Hillis was married to Bertha 1. Stockford, who was born on November 28, 1879, at Clarksville, Ionia county, Michigan, and to this marriage have been born two children : Zoreta G., born on May 5. 1903, and Kenneth Boyd, August 28, 1907. Mr. Hillis
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and his family are active members of the Methodist church, at Hemmingway Chapel.
Mrs. Hillis is a daughter of John and Roxy ( White) Stockford, the former born in Canada on June 10, 1845, a son of Joseph and Mary Stock- ford, of Canada; the latter born in Ionia county, Michigan, on August 12, 1860. a daughter of Amasa and Pruella (Lyon ) White, natives of New York state and of Ohio, respectively.
John Stockford moved to Ionia county, Michigan, alone, in September. 1864, and worked on various farms of the community and in number camps of Campbell township, for several years. Later, Mr. Stockford married and then came to Douglass township, Montcalm county, where he rented a farm for several years, after which he moved to a farm of forty-seven acres, which he had secured some years previously, and on this place he is now living as a general farmer. John Stockford and his wife. Roxy, are mem- bers of Hemmingway Chapel Methodist church. In politics. Mr. Stockford is a Republican.
George Thomas Hillis has taken an active part in the public and official life of Douglass township. Montcalm county, having served as township treasurer for two years and for the past two years has been the occupant of the office of justice of the peace. Politically, Mr. Hillis is a Republican. Fraternally, George Thomas Hillis is a member of Stanton Lodge No. 49. Knights of the Maccabees. Mr. Hillis is one of the most progressive and popular farmers of the community, his excellent judgment and his indus- trious ways having won for him notable success as a farmer and a prosper- ous place in the agricultural life of Douglass township.
REV. SAMUEL BOLLINGER.
The Rev. Samuel Bollinger, a substantial farmer of Ferris township, this county, and a well-known and influential minister of the Church of the Brethren, commonly called Dunkards, at Vestaburg, who for years has been prominently connected with the civic and religious life of his com- munity, is a native of Ohio, having been born in Portage county, that state, son of Emmanuel and Margaret ( Mishler) Bollinger, who came to Michi- gan with their family in 1883 and settled on a farm a mile and a half north of Vestaburg, in this county. There Emmanuel Bollinger made his home until his retirement from the labors of the farm upon the coming of old
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age, since which time he has made his home in the household of his son, the subject of this biographical sketch.
Samuel Bollinger was about eighteen years of age when he came to Montcalm county from Ohio with his parents and he began working for himself upon coming here, since 1884 having made his home in Ferris township, for some years after coming here having worked for various farmers in that section. He married in 1889 and in 1891 bought a forty- acre "slashing" in the eastern part of Ferris township, three or four acres of which had been cleared, and there he established his home and has ever since lived there. Clearing his land, Mr. Bollinger presently got the place under cultivation and as his operations prospered gradually added to the same by purchase of additional tracts until now he is the owner of one hundred and sixty acres, nearly one hundred of which is clear of stumps and under cultivation. Mr. Bollinger has made substantial improvements on his place and now has a well-kept and profitable farm, being looked upon as one of the leading agriculturists thereabout. He has a nice cobble-stone house and excellent farm buildings and is, altogether, quite comfortably situated.
The Rev. Samuel Bollinger has been recognized as one of the leaders in good works in his vicinity ever since establishing himself there and since the year 1900 has been pastor of the Church of the Brethren at Vestaburg, his earnest endeavors in that direction being a pure labor of love, as his Jenomination does not regard it as a seemly or proper thing to pay a min- ister a stated salary for his services. In 1907 Mr. Bollinger helped to build the church at Vestaburg and also was one of the most substantial promoters of the church at Crystal and is very properly regarded as a useful and valuable member of the community which he so unselfishly serves. He also has been active in civic affairs and has been equally zealous in behalf of the public service. At the age of twenty-five he was elected township treas- urer, in which capacity he served very acceptably for two terms. He also has done good service in various other township offices, having been town- ship clerk, member of the board of review, school inspector and for six or seven years school director.
In 1880 Samuel Bollinger was united in marriage to Alice Palmer, who was born in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, daughter of Oliver and Hannah (Davis) Palmer, also natives of that same county, and to this union three children were born, Jennie, Daniel and Howard. The mother of these children died on March 1, 1901, and on January 1, 1902, Mr. Bollinger married, secondly, Mrs. Lillie L. (Ross) Webster, who was born
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in Windsor, Canada, daughter of L. W. and Elizabeth ( Millard) Ross, who came from Canada to this state and established their home in Mecosta county, where their daughter, Lillie, grew to womanhood, and where she married Charles Webster, who for some time lived at Belding, later moving to New Haven township, Gratiot county, where he died in 1901, leaving two children, Max and Ray, the latter of whom. unhappily. lost his lite by drowning in 1911. By Mr. Bollinger's second marriage three children have been born, Elmer, Harry and Edith. Mr. and Mrs. Bollinger take a proper part in the general social activities of their community, as well as in the religious life of the same, and are held in high respect throughout the whole countryside.
JOHN P. SPENCER.
John P. Spencer, one of the best-known farmers of Crystal township. this county, is a native of Ohio, but has been a resident of Montcalm county since he was eight years of age. He was born on March 24. 1845, in Syca- more township, Wyandot county, Ohio, son of Samuel aud Nancy Jane (Starkey) Spencer, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of Ohio, who came to Michigan about 1853 and located in this county, pre- empting the north half of the southeast quarter of section 2, in what is now Crystal township.
When the Spencers located in that section the country thereabout was wild and almost wholly unsettled, much of it never having been trod by the foot of a white man. The beaten trail that then followed the section line in a general way north and south past the east end of the Spencer homestead was called the Pine River road and was the trail used in transporting sup- plies to and from the farther distant lumber camps and to the early settle- ments. Sanmel Spencer was among the first settlers of that part of the county and attended the first meeting called for the purpose of effecting a separate organization for Crystal township. At that time the nearest mill was at Matherton and the nearest postoffice was at Hubbardston, it being some time thereafter before a postoffice was established at Carson City. James Spencer occupied that homestead farm, clearing the most of the timber therefrom, until, 1883, in which year he and his wife and all their children save John P., the subject of this sketch, emigrated to the northern part of South Dakota, where they homesteaded another tract of land and there Mr. and Mrs. Spencer spent the remainder of their lives,
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