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 53
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Claude C. McCrea has been active in the official life of Day township. Montcalm county, having served a term as township treasurer and he now is occupying the office as postmaster of McBride, Mr. McCrea having taken up the duties of this office in August, 1915. Claude C. McCrea is a promin- ent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Daughters of Rebekah, a member of the Loyal Order of Moose, and he takes a lead- ing place in the Modern Woodmen of America lodge at McBride.
Clyde P. McCrea is an engineer and electrician, now being an employee of the Edmore Canning Company, at Edmore, Michigan.
Jacob McCrea was a Royal Arch Mason and was a man who was fore- most in all organizations and who was active in all movements for the better-
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ment of the town or the improvement of living conditions. His place in the town of McBride and in Montcalm county, Michigan, was an important one and since the death of Jacob McCrea, at McBride, on August 29, 1904, this good man and esteemed citizen has been sincerely mourned by a host of friends and associates.
JAMES PURDON, M. D.
Dr. James Purdon, well-known physician and surgeon at Edmore, this county, where he has been engaged in the practice of his profession since the year 1897, is a native of Canada, having been born at Stratford, Ontario, April 20, 1870, son of James and Barbara (Livingstone) Purdon, both of whom also were natives of the dominion, both having been born in the neigh- borhood of Ottawa.
James Purdon, Sr., was born in 1828 and his whole life was spent in Canada, having been a successful farmer and lumberman. In 1853 he mar- ried Barbara Livingstone, who was born in 1828, daughter of'Duncan and Mary Livingstone, natives of Glasgow, Scotland, and a first cousin of Dr. David Livingstone, the great African explorer. Doctor Purdon has in his possession a native lance, which was owned by and used by Doctor Living- stone during his African travels, which came to him from his mother and which he prizes very highly as a souvenir of the wonderful life work of his illustrious kinsman. Doctor Purdon's mother died in 1876 and his father died in 1885. They were the parents of seven children, namely: Robert, of Brandon, Manitoba; Mary, who married J. C. Henry and also lives at Brandon; Jennie, who married John A. Morris and lives in Winnipeg; Bar- bara, who married John Gower and also lives in Winnipeg; Alexander, of London, Ontario; Duncan, of Chicago, and James, the immediate subject of this biographical sketch.
The junior James Purdon was reared in Canada and received his ele- mentary education there, remaining at home until he started to college. Fol- lowing a course at the Ottawa Normal School, he entered Jefferson Med- ical College, in New York City, from which he was graduated in 1897, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. In the fall of that year he took a post-graduate course in New York and in December, 1897, came to Mich- igan, locating at Edmore, in this county, where he ever since has been engaged in the practice of his profession, during which time he has estab- lished a high reputation as a physician and surgeon throughout this part of
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the state. Doctor Purdon ever has kept abreast of the wonderful advances being made in his noble profession and in 1911-12 took a post-graduate course in the Chicago Polyclinic Medical College. He is a member of the famous Surgeons Club, of Rochester, Minnesota; a member of the American Medical Association and of the Michigan State Medical Society, in the affairs of all of which organizations he takes a warm interest. He is city health officer at Edmore and is the local surgeon for the Pere Marquette Railroad Company.
On April 20, 1910, Dr. James Purdon was united in marriage to Clara Simon, who was born near Remus, in Mecosta county, this state, daughter of Frank Simon and wife, and who has proved an admirable helpmate in the doctor's difficult and exacting field of labor. Both Doctor and Mrs. Purdon take a warm interest in the social and cultural life of the com- munity and are held in the highest esteem thereabout. They have two chil- dren, daughters both, Mildred and Ruth. Doctor Purdon is a Mason, a member of the Knights Templar and the Shrine of that order at Grand Rapids, and is an Odd Fellow, taking an active interest in the affairs of these orders.
HERMAN R. BLUEMLY.
An exponent of marked progressiveness and civic loyalty in Montcalm county is Herman R. Bluemly who holds a representative place in the field of agriculture. He, being one of a family of eleven children, four boys and seven girls of whom all are still living, was born in August, 1871, in Easton township, Ionia county, and is the son of Frederick and Rosina ( Meier) Bluemly. Frederick Bluemly was born on March 13, 1825, in Langendenzlingen. Baden, Germany, and in the early sixties came to this country where he settled near Evansville, Indiana, following the occupa- tion of a farmer. In 1861 he moved to Ionia county, Michigan, where he bought a farm in Easton township. The county was in its primeval state and in order to clear a piece of ground for the farm dwelling and small garden Mr. Bluemly was obliged to set fire to valuable timber, most of which was oak and walnut. There was then little profit in selling the lum- ber as the trading stations were too great a distance from the farm. Until his death, Mr. Bluemly followed the occupation of a farmer. On January 25. 1889, he was killed by a railroad train, an incident which was most tragic for the wife who survived him. Rosina Meier, who was a native of -
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Dentzlinger, Germany, came to America at the age of fourteen years, when the time required to cross the Atlantic occupied forty days and forty nights. l'rom early childhood Mrs. Bluemly experienced more than the ordinary share of adventure and thrilling incidents. She recalled distinctly the days when Germany and Russia were at war, how the Russian army in passing through the town in which she lived took with them all her father's posses- sions. Her family was obliged to scatter during the soldiers' visit to their home and she took refuge under the bed until the last traces of the army had disappeared. Upon arriving in this country Mrs. Bluemly went to Evans- ville where she met the man who later became her husband. She passed away on July 5, 1901.
The early education of Herman R. Bluemly was received in the district school near his father's farm in Easton township. Later, he attended the high school at Carson City a short time. Until his marriage, with the excep- tion of a few months which were spent in travel through the West, Mr. Bluemly worked on the farm owned by his father. At the age of twenty- nine years he bought a farm of eighty acres in Orleans township, Ionia county, which he managed but did not use for his residence. He made his home on the farm belonging to his father-in-law which was located one mile from his own farm, and which extended over one hundred and seventy acres. After three years spent upon this farm he bought a place four miles west, on the boundary line between Orleans and Easton townships. This forty acres was mostly timber land and the task of clearing it a difficult one. For three years during the process of clearing the land, Mr. Bluemly con- ducted a store in which general merchandise was sold. Mr. Bluemly has made his home in Butternut since 1910, when he sold out his interest in the store and came here to engage in the buying and shipping of stock in part- nership with his father-in-law. He still finds time to work along the lines of general farming.
On September 10, 1901, the marriage of Herman R. Bluemly and Nellie Blanche Higbee took place. Mrs. Bluemly, who is a native of Orleans town- ship, Ionia county, is the daughter of Chancellor and Ida (Bishop) Higbee and an account of the life of her distinguished father appears on another page of this volume. To the union of Mr. and Mrs. Bluemly, one son has been born, Corris Chancellor.
Mr. Bluemly has always taken a prominent part in the fraternal life of the community in which he lives. He holds membership in the Maccabees, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is also affiliated with the local lodge of the Grange.
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JOSIAH MARTIN.
Josiah Martin, successful farmer, fruit grower and stock raiser, and a man of prominence in the affairs of the Mennonite church, of Day township, Montcalm county, Michigan, was born on August 13, 1845, in Waterloo county, Ontario, Canada, the son of David and Rebecca (Schantz) Martin.
David Martin, who was the son of Peter Martin, and a descendant of a well-known family who came originally from Switzerland, in the early part of the 17th century, they taking an important part in church and political affairs of colonial American life, was born in Lancaster county, Pennsyl- vania, in the year 1815, and four years later went, with his parents to Can- ada, where David Martin, in 1838, was married to Rebecca Schantz, the daughter of Christian, and Paul Schantz. David Martin lived in Woolrich township, Waterloo county, Ontario, Canada, for the remainder of his days, dying in the year 1894. David Martin, in 1857, was ordained a deacon of the Mennonite church, an office which he served in a most efficient manner until his death.
Josiah Martin grew to maturity on the home farm in Ontario, Canada, aiding his father until 1886, when Josiah Martin went to Osceola county, Iowa, where he engaged in general farming on six hundred and forty acres of land for eight years. About 1896, Mr. Martin disposed of his land in Osceola county and purchased a farm of two hundred and forty acres, near South Haven, Michigan, where he engaged in farming and in fruit growing until October, 1899, when Josiah Martin traded his farm for a farm of nine hundred and twenty acres in Day township, Montcalm county, Michigan, where he now is successfully engaged in general agricultural pursuits, mak- ing a specialty of breeding Aberdeen-Angus cattle, pedigreed Percheron horses and pure-blooded White Plymouth Rock chickens. On his tarm Josiah Martin has adopted the most modern and scientific methods for the cultivation of his land, and his equipment is the most complete of the com- munity, including a large gasoline tractor which operates four plows. In addition to his other farm activities, Mr. Martin gives a considerable por- tion of his effort to the raising of fruit, his product being of the best to be found in the county and vicinity.
During the year 1868, Josiah Martin was married to Sarah Clemmer, who was born in Waterloo county, Ontario, Canada, the daughter of Abram and Lydia (Schantz) Clemmer, natives of Pennsylvania and of Waterloo county, Ontario, respectively. To the marriage of Josiah and Sarah Martin
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have been born the following children: Abram, who lives with his father; Cyrenus, a farmer living near the home place, who married Elizabeth Bau- man and to whom have been born three children, Eli, Urias and Paul; Josiah, who lives at home; Elam, a farmer on part of the home place, who married Lavina Gingerich and to whom have been born nine children, Ivan, Sarah, Anna, Rachel, Leah, Ellen, Lavina, Ezra and one child who died in early childhood; Lucy, who is deceased; Lydia, who lives at home; Menno, who lives with his brother Elam; Simeon, a meat dealer of Hubbard, Oregon, who married Ruby Andrews; and Manasseh and Sarah, who live at home. Josiah Martin and his wife, together with four of his children, are members of the Mennonite church.
Josiah Martin is an ordained minister of the Mennonite church and is one who takes an important place in the work and worship of this denomina- tion. Mr. Martin is one of the highly respected men and appreciated citizens of Day township, in Montcalm county, and is a man who has done no little in the development of the county and its resources.
CHESTER ROCKAFELLOW CULVER.
Chester Rockafellow Culver, the son of Charles Richard and Clara Rose (Rockafellow ) Culver was born on December 23, 1883, at Carson City, where he grew to manhood and was educated in the public schools.
Charles R. Culver was born at Ringwold, Kent county, England, in June, 1855, and was the son of Joseph and Mary (Minter) Culver. He came to America alone, when but sixteen years of age and has been self- supporting; beginning work at the age of nine in a tobacco store at home. Having a brother in Michigan, he determined to come to the united States and later became a resident of Ionia, where he worked in Hudson's store. About 1875 he came to Carson City, where he managed the store of H. P. Miller and later took charge of the Rockafellow Mercantile Company, which is the institution now owned by Chester R. Culver. He remained here as manager until 1905 when he became the owner of the place. In 1909, after several changes, the store was sold to his sons, Francis N. and Chester R., the partnership continuing for two years, at which time Chester became the sole owner.
Mr. Culver occupies two stories of the building for his large stock of goods. Here is found a complete line of boots and shoes, dry goods, hats,
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men's and boy's furnishings, groceries and notions. In connection with the store, the owner has a wagon on the road, by means of which he conducts --- a large business, going direct to the homes of the purchasers.
Charles R. Culver, since his retirement from the store has his head- quarters at Battle Creek and travels in the interests of the Building and Loan Association of Lansing.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles R. Culver are the parents of five children : Francis M., Grace E., Jessie Louise, Mary M. and Chester R. Jessie Louise died on January 8, 1916, in Denver, Colorado, and interment was in the cemetery at Harrison City. She was married to Robert G. Hemphill, who was descended from distinguished ancestry, his father having been a captain in the Confederate army and later was clerk of the state senate in North Carolina.
Chester R. Culver began work at Detroit at the age of nineteen and remained there for three years, where he was employed in a wholesale dry goods house. He then came to Carson City for two years, was married and took up his residence in Battle Creek, where he was employed in a gents' furnishing store for three years, after which he returned to Carson City and engaged in business.
On September 4, 1907, Chester R. Culver was married to Ida V. Fisher, who was born at St. Charles, and is the daughter of William H. and Hettie A. (Speers) Fisher. William H. Fisher was born in Bleadon, Somerset- shire, England, and was the son of James and Louise (Every) Fisher, who came to the United States about 1856. They settled in Washtenaw county, where James Fisher died a few years ago. William H. Fisher enlisted in Company C, First Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry, before he was eighteen years old and saw much active service, receiving a severe wound which has bothered him all his life. For a time he suffered the horrors of prison life at Andersonville, where he was a prisoner of war.
Shortly after the war Mr. Fisher was married to Hattie Hill. who died leaving one son, Harry M. He later married Hettie A. Speers, a native of Seneca Falls, New York, and a daughter of Cornelius and Hester ( Parker) Speers, who settled in Corunna, Michigan, where Mr. Speers made boots and shoes.
After marriage, William H. Fisher lived for a time on a farm near St. Charles, and later became a resident of Texas, where he was employed by a railroad company as an engineer in the vards, until his death in 1886. Besides his widow he left two children: Mrs. C. R. Culver and George A.
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Mrs. Fisher, after the death of her husband, returned to Michigan and lived at Harbor Beach. Some years later she married Samuel A. Fuller and to this union one child was born, Carrie E., the wife of William J. Engle, of Harbor Beach. Since the death of Mr. Fuller in 1911, the widow makes. her home with her daughter. Mrs. Culver.
Mrs. Chester R. Culver received her education in the public schools of her home town and at the Ypsilanti Normal School, from which institu- tion she was graduated in 1903. She was later a teacher in the schools of Carson City, Battle Creek and Whiting. Indiana. Mr. and Mrs. Culver are the parents of one child, Elizabeth Louise.
JESSE BENTON KIMBALL.
Jesse Benton Kimball, well-known farmer and prominent citizen of Day township, Montcalm county, Michigan, was born at Hillsdale, Michigan, on April 15, 1856, the son of Jesse and Naomi ( Beard) Kimball.
Jesse Kimball, Sr., came to the state of Michigan, from his home in. Cattaraugus county, New York, in the early fifties, and lived at Breedsville, Michigan, until the outbreak of the Civil War, when he enlisted in Company B, First Michigan Engineers, a command with which he served as an engineer, having the care of bridges and other engineering works, until his death as a result of typhoid fever, about two years after his enlistment. Jesse and Naomi Kimball were the parents of six children. Jesse Kimball, Sr., who. was known as Captain Kimball, was a prominent man of his community prior to the Civil War, having taken an important part in the slave question agitation, preceding the war, and having been active in the conduct of the "underground railway." of that time. Captain Kimball was present and took an active part in the convention, at Jackson, Michigan, where the Repub- lican party was born, and he was a delegate to the national convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President.
Jesse Benton Kimball was but eight years of age when his father died, at which time the family was divided and Jesse Benton went to make his home with the Jacob Smith family, where Jesse Benton Kimball lived until he was of an age to make his own way in the world. When fifteen years of age, Jesse Benton Kimball. after recovering from an accident in which he lost some of his fingers, went to the city of Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he worked in a paint shop for a time, after which he spent some years
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as an employee of a saw-mill in the woods of the state. In 1900, Jesse Benton Kimball came to Montcalm county, and settled on a farm of forty acres, in section 27, Day township, a place which Mr. Kimball had purchased while he was engaged in the lumber field. On his farm in Day township, Jesse Benton Kimball lived as a general farmer until 1914, when he disposed of his original farm and purchased a place of one hundred and sixty acres located in section 14, Day township, a farm which Mr. Kimball has greatly improved and where he now engages in general agricultural pursuits.
During the year 1880, Jesse Benton Kimball was married to Flora Sukey, who was born in Vermont, the daughter of Frank and Julia (Sailers) Sukey, natives of Canada, who later moved to Vermont, after which they moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, a place which was their home until 1876, when they came to Stanton, Montcalm county. To the marriage of Jesse Benton and Flora Kimball have been born four children: Oliver, a farmer of Day township, who married Sarah Hallock and to whom have been born four children, Leman, Lloyd, Tina and lla; Hazel, who is the wife of George Heller, a farmer of Day township; Ray, who cultivates the home place and who married Mary Gunckle; and Jessie, who lives at home.
Jesse Benton Kimball is one of the highly respected citizens of Mont- calm county, Michigan, his unselfish life and his interest in the development of the community having given him a place among the foremost citizens.
LEROY K. JARSTFER.
Leroy K. Jarstfer, a well-known farmer of Crystal township, this county, is a native of Michigan, having been born on a farm in Ada town- ship, Kent county, this state, on April 8, 1862, son of Michael and Rhoda Ann ( Beach) Jarstfer, and has been a resident of Montcalm county since the year 1895.
Michael Jarstfer was born in Germany and he and his brothers and sisters came to this country, proceeding directly to Michigan after their arrival and locating in Kent county. There Michael Jarstfer became a farmer and there he married Rhoda Ann Beach, who was born near the city of Syracuse, New York, and who came to this state with her parents, Henry and Rosanna (Sweet ) Beach, who located in Ada township, Kent county, where they entered a tract of "Congress land" at one dollar and twenty-five
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cents an acre. When the Civil War broke out, Michael Jarstfer enlisted for service in a Michigan regiment and in battle received a wound in the leg from which he ever after suffered a disability. Upon the close of his mili- tary service he returned home and the rest of his life was spent in Kent county.
Leroy K. Jarstfer was reared on the paternal farm in Kent county and from the days of his early boyhood was noted among his friends for his diligent industry. At the age of thirteen he began doing man's work and lahored at anything his hands could find to do, for some time having been engaged in the hazardous occupation of well-digging, during which time he narrowly escaped death on several occasions. In the fall of 1892 he went to lonia, where he secured a position as head attendant in one of the wards of the hospital for the criminal insane there and was thus engaged. During this form of service he formed the acquaintance of Floy B. Zerba, who was employed in one of the female wards of the hospital and on June 12, 1895, they were married. Floy B. Zerba was born in Branch county, this state, daughter of Joseph Clinton and Phoebe ( Purdy) Zerba, both of whom were born in that same county. Joseph B. Zerba was a son of Isaac and Sarah (Huey) Zerba. He grew to manhood on the home farm in Branch county and married Phoebe Purdy, daughter of Alexander and Emaline (King) Purdy, the latter of whom was born in Pennsylvania, daughter of Hosea and Sallie (Thompson) King, the former of Pennsylvania-Dutch stock and the latter a native of Canada. Joseph Clinton Zerba and family moved to Montcalm county about a quarter of a century ago and located on the east end of the farm where Mr. Jarstfer now lives, in the northeast part of Crystal township, where they began life in a little log house in a small clearing in the woods. After living there about five years they moved to Ferris town- ship, where they spent a few years, at the end of which time they moved to Belding, where they now live.
Following their marriage in the summer of 1895, Mr. and Mrs. Jarstfer came to this county and located on the farm where they now live, in section 12, of Crystal township. Mr. Jarstfer has done wonders in the way of improving that place, having erected a good house and barn and other build- ings, and made other extensive and valuable improvements. When he took hold of the farm much of it was overgrown with underbrush and there was considerable timber still standing, besides which the place was in sad need of proper drainage. Mr. Jarstfer drained and cleared the place and now has one of the best farms in that neighborhood. He originally owned a
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full quarter of a section there, but has since sold forty acres off the place. Mr. and Mrs. Jarstfer are the parents of four children, Leonard, Otto, Clif- ford and Stacy.
CHARLES L. HICKS.
Charles I. Hicks, successful farmer and citizen, prominent in the public and official life of Ferris township, Montcalm county, Michigan, was born in Sumner township, Gratiot county, Michigan, on January 18, 1880, a son of Philip and Ella (Stearns) Hicks, the former born in Ohio, in 1849, a son of James Hicks and wife, the latter born in Ohio in 1855, a daughter of Lawson and Emily Stearns.
James Hicks was born in Devonshire, England, and came to America in 1847, and settled near Cleveland, Ohio, where he lived until 1856, when he moved to Gratiot county, Michigan, and located west of the town of Sumner. There he established a home amid pioneer surroundings and engaged in lum- bering in the winter and farming in the summer, later he built the hotel at Sumner which he conducted for many years ..
Philip Hicks grew to maturity at Sumner, Gratiot county, received his education in the local schools and then became a farmer. In 1872 he was married to Ella Stearns, who lived with her parents, Lawson and Emily Stearns until her marriage. After their marriage they located on an eighty- acre farm in section 31. Sumner township, Gratiot county. To this they later added sixty acres more. To the marriage of Philip and Ella Hicks were born nine children : Charlie. the eldest child, died at eight months of age; William J., Della, Eda, Charles, Glen, Howard, Ina and Frank.
Lawson Stearns and his wife, Emily (Ferris) Stearns were natives of New York and came to Ferris township, Montcalm county, in 1864, and set- tled on their farm on section 26, where they lived until their death. Lawson Stearns was a soldier of the Civil War, dying shortly after the close of the war. Joseph, a son of the elder Stearns, served in the Second Ohio Cavalry and was killed in the Civil War.
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