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 64
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JOHN C. MILLER.
John C. Miller, a prominent farmer and stock raiser of Fairplain town- ship, Montcalm county, was born in this township, January 21, 1862, the son of Lester R. and Sarah L. (Cole) Miller. Lester R. Miller was the son of Isaac Denison Miller and was born in New York state, having come from that state to Detroit with his parents when he was about three years of age. Isaac Denison Miller had two brothers who had preceded him to Michigan and taken up land where the city of Detroit now stands. He was anxious to join them and started with his family from New York to Michi- gan, but, on account of the size of his family, was unable to get passage from Erne, Pennsylvania, to Detroit by schooner. Consequently, the family was compelled to remain in Erie for three months, when passage was secured and they proceeded on their journey. Three years later they purchased a farm near Pontiac, in Oakland county, where Lester R. lived until he had reached his majority. At that time he came to Montcalm county with three horses and a wagon, which he traded for one hundred and twenty acres of land, eighty acres of which John C. Miller now owns. He settled on this land and went to work for J. M. Kidd in the timber, working for twelve
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dollars a month, and secured enough lumber to build him a house. In the spring of the following year he walked back to Oakland county, where he married Louisa Kent and then returned to his farm in Montcalm county, her family coming also a short time later. To Lester R. and Louisa (Kent) Miller were born two children, George W., who lives two miles east of the subject in Fairplain township, and Alice Delphine, the widow of Byron Griffith, of Duluth, Minnesota. The mother of these children, Mrs. Louisa Miller, died and Mr. Miller later married Sarah L. Cole, the daughter of James and Sylvia (Frederick) Cole, natives of Auburn, New York. Mrs. Sarah L. Miller was born in Clinton township, Washtenaw county, Michigan, where she was reared and educated. To this second union were born three children, John C., the subject of this sketch; Agnes S., the wife of Elmer S. Wolverton, of Ionia county, and Mable, who died at the age of three months.
John C. Miller lived at home until twenty-one years age, when he went to Dakota, where he took up a tract of pre-empted land and later entered a homestead tract, making a total of three hundred and twenty acres which he owned in this state. He drove through from Dakota back to Michigan, driving seven horses, and was five weeks and four days on the trip. After his return to Michigan, he bought his father's farm of one hundred and thirty-four acres, which he farmed and where he made his home for some time, later selling forty acres of it. In 1891 he engaged in business at Green- ville with a Mr. Callaghan, remaining there two and one-half years, and, in 1895, bought another tract of one hundred and forty-five acres from his father, making him a tract of two hundred and thirty-nine acres, situated in section 20, Fairplain township. He also owns a tract of sixty acres one mile north of his present farm, known as the Miller homestead.
On December 13, 1894, John C. Miller was united in marriage to Bessie E. Davidson, the daughter of John L. Davidson. To this union have been born nine children, all of whom are living : J. C., who is a graduate of the high school at Greenville; Agnes M., Eleanora I., Doris C., Sarah C., Gordon D., Lester P., Jennie B. and Herbert. All of these children are still living at home and all except the eldest are attending school.
Fraternally, Mr. Miller is a member of Greenville Lodge No. 96, Free and Accepted Masons, and of the Ancient Order of Gleaners. In politics, he is a Republican and has always been active in all political affairs, espe- cially those of his home township. He was supervisor of the township for five years, serving one term of three years and one of two years, has been township treasurer for three terms, and is now serving as moderator of his school district, which office he has filled for a number of years.
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CLAIRE C. REYNOLDS.
A native of the state of Michigan and a representative of one of the oldest families within its borders, Claire C. Reynolds has well upheld the prestige of the name he bears, which has long been prominently identified with the industrial interests of the community. As cashier of the Bank of Butternut he has by his ability and personal popularity gained definite recog- nition and has filled the position for which he was chosen in a manner which has added materially to his professional reputation. Claire C. Reynolds was born on the 24th of July, 1888, in New Haven township, of Gratiot county. He is the son of Ransom P. and Clara Idessa (Wolf) Reynolds, long asso- ciated with the social and civic life of the county. The Reynolds family in this section of the state traces its ancestry to Phileman Reynolds, a native of Virginia, who at the age of nine years emigrated to Ohio where he grew to manhood.
Ransom P. Reynolds was the son of Phileman and Mary I. (Gier) Reynolds and was born in Gratiot county, Michigan, on November 17, 1860, on the old Reynolds farm, one-half mile south of Middleton. At that time the farm and community were unsettled and uncleared, and during the boy- hood days of Ransom P. Reynolds he worked in cutting staves and clearing. At the age of seventeen he went to work in the pine woods south of Vesta- burg for a man named Pratt; the next winter he was chopper for Snow & Sabins near Stanton. He later married Clara Idessa Wolf, the mother of the subject, and they now live on their farm near Middleton.
Phileman Reynolds, the grandfather of the subject, was born on Sep- tember 26, 1830, it is thought in Vermont, and moved to Ohio when a small boy. He was married to Mary Jane Gier on December 1, 1849.
Phileman Reynolds moved to Gratiot county, Michigan, during the pio- neer days in this section of the country, and it is believed that he and his brother, Lewis Reynolds, obtained a grant of land from the government, for it is known that they owned an entire section of land in this county. It may be noted that they established a home here when the future thriving county of the state was represented by a mere scattering of houses studding the borders of large tracts of forest land. Indians were common visitors near the farm house and wild animals were often found in rough weather seeking shelter for the night on the front porch of the farm dwelling. Despite the rough encounters of a life in the wilderness, Phileman Reynolds lived to an advanced age, passing away in 1894. His wife died when Ransom, the father
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of the subject of this sketch, was a child and after her death Phileman Rey- nolds was married for the second time.
The education received by Ransom Reynolds was as complete as the customs of that period and locality afforded. He attended one of the few log school houses of this section of the state, the one just mentioned being located near Middleton. The whole educational period of his life covered little more than four winters spent in school. At an early age he was trained to a life on the farm, and with the exception of a few months spent in the employ- ment of the Grand Trunk Railroad, when that company was putting its line through the county, he has followed the occupation of a farmer. He resides at the present time on a farm scarcely a mile from Middleton, where he has one hundred acres of land under cultivation. His wife, Clara Idessa (Wolf) Reynolds is the daughter of Joseph A. and Martha (Huffman) Wolf and was born in Huron county, Ohio, on February 9, 1863. She spent her early days in Ohio, moving to Gratiot county, Michigan, with her parents in September, 1880. She began teaching school at the age of fifteen years, teaching three terms in Ohio and one in Michigan. Ransom P. Rey- nolds and Clara Idessa Wolf were united in marriage on June 3, 1883.
Joseph A. Wolf was born on February 13, 1837, and died on October 21, 1906. His boyhood days were spent in Cumberland county, Pennsyl- vania, and when twelve years of age he came with his parents to Richland county, Ohio. They lived in different parts of the state of Ohio. He was married, on July 5, 1857, to Martha Huffman, and they, with their family, moved to Michigan in September, 1880. Mr. Wolf was a soldier of the Civil War, enlisting in Company B, Sixtieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, in 1864 and serving to July, 1865. The regiment was in seventeen battles, but he escaped without a wound. He was a loyal member of the Julius T. Barrett Post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Carson City, Michigan. Martha (Huffman) Wolf was born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, July 4, 1839, and died at her home in Carson City, June 22, 1910, being seventy-one years old. Ransom and Clara Reynolds have become the parents of the fol- lowing children: Floyd, thirty years old, who is assistant cashier of the bank at Middleton; Claire C., the subject of this sketch, and Eloise Ruby, now ten years old. Mrs. Reynolds has also reared an adopted daughter, Hazel, who is thirteen years old.
The boyhood of the subject of this sketch was spent on the farm near Middleton. He attended the common schools and was a graduate in the class of 1906 of the Middleton high school. Upon finishing his educational
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course he taught school in Gratiot county for two years. In the spring of 1909, Claire C. Reynolds gained his first experience in the financial world as an employee in the Bank of Perrinton where he remained for five months. At the end of that time he accepted the position as cashier of the Bank of Butternut, an office he has filled ever since with marked efficiency. It might be noted in this connection that the bank just mentioned was organized in 1906 by "J. J. Phelps, as a private bank. Three years later it was sold to the present owners, Grant Slocum, of Detroit, John Ealy, of Caro, and John R. Hudson, of Middleton. The bank was capitalized at ten thousand dollars and has a responsibility of one hundred thousand. It is rated by the Dun Company as having seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars responsibility, and the shareholders have a reserve sufficient to meet all probable require- ments of customers. Mr. Ealy is prominently known throughout the "Thurvel" district where he is interested in several other banks. Mr. Slocum of Detroit, has business interests there, being the founder of the Ancient Order of Gleaners, and Mr. Herdson of Middleton, is cashier of the Peoples State Bank of that place.
The marriage of Claire C. Reynolds and Iva B. Knapp was solemnized on the 31st of March, 1911. Mrs. Reynolds, who is the daughter of Almeron and Harriet ( Mosier) Knapp, was born two and one-half miles southwest of Butternut, in Montcalm county. Until her marriage Mrs. Reynolds resided on the original Knapp home which was one of the first established in the county. An account of the life of Almeron Knapp is presented on another page of this volume.
Mr. Reynolds has not permitted his business interests to narrow his views and finds opportunity to enter heartily in the social and industrial affairs of the community. Fraternally he is a member of the Masonic lodge at Mid- dleton, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Crystal.
FRED A. PAKES.
Fred A. Pakes, well-known cattleman of Stanton, this county, who is said to have bought more live stock than any man of his age in the state of Michigan, is a native son of Montcalm county, having been born in the city where he still makes his home on July 17, 1876, son of Robert and Mary (O'Shea) Pakes, the former a native of England and the latter of Ireland, long well-known and prominent residents of Stanton.
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Robert Pakes, who was born in 1849, left England when he was about twenty years of age and came to America, proceeding shortly thereafter to Michigan, where he settled at Ionia, where he was joined in 1870 by his sweetheart, Mary O'Shea, an Irish lass who had grown up in England, and who came alone to America to marry her lover in Michigan. In 1872 Robert Pakes and his wife left Ionia and settled in Stanton, where Mr. Pakes started a meat market and where he resided the rest of his life, his death occurring on July 1, 1903. Robert Pakes and his wife were the parents of three children, the subject of this biographical sketch having a brother, Rob- ert L., born in 1879, who now is located in Honolulu, Hawaii, and a sister, Nellie, born in 1874, a former teacher in the Stanton public schools, who married and is now living in Spokane, Washington.
Fred A. Pakes grew up in Stanton and began his highly successful career as a stock buyer when thirteen years old, at which early period of his life he bought a cow from Lafe Barber. That was in 1889 and in the same year he bought a couple of sheep from Anthony Courter. The profit from these two youthful ventures decided Fred A. Pakes' course in life and he speedily began to enlarge his operations, presently taking his place alongside old and experienced stock buyers in the markets of this section of the state. He always rode a yellow pony on his stock-buying rounds and the enthusiastic lad and his pony soon became the most familiar figures on the highways of Montcalm county, the boy buying stock generally within easy access to the Stanton market, though often he found it difficult to make a deal with some of the farmers, the latter apparently being dubious about dealing with so youthful an agent. It was not long before the youthful stock buyer began to extend his operations to neighboring counties and as his affairs prospered gradually extended farther and farther, until he finally found himself an active stock buyer in all the markets of Michigan, his operations covering the entire state, always making his headquarters, however, at Stanton. Mr. Pakes now ships as much as four hundred cars of live stock annually, main- taining shipping points at Stanton, Vestaburg, Lakeview and Fenwick, in this county, and at numerous other points throughout the state, enjoying the reputation of having bought more live stock than any man of his age in Michigan. From the very start of his career, even as a lad of thirteen, Mr. Pakes established a reputation for "fair and square" dealing, which soon inspired the confidence of stock raisers throughout the section covered by his operations and that early-acquired reputation has been maintained with scrupulous care ever since, no stockman in the state being held in higher regard among cattlemen generally than he.
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On October 25, 1899, Fred A. Pakes was united in marriage to Nettie Green, who was born at Kalamazoo, this state, April 17, 1882, youngest daughter of Addison and Mary (Bowen) Green, natives of Vermont and early settlers in this state. Addison Green and his wife were the parents of six children, Mrs. Pakes having three sisters and two brothers, Ruth, George, Genevieve, Harry A., and Gladys. The mother of these children died on November 21, 1894. To Fred A. and Nettie (Green) Pakes five children have been born, as follow: Frederick, born on March 26, 1901; Kenneth, November 16, 1902; Mary Arela, August 24, 1904; Robert, Octo- ber 21, 1906, and Rolland, August 16, 1909. Mr. and Mrs. Pakes take their part in the general social activities of Stanton, being much interested in movements designed to advance the common interest hereabout, and are held in high regard by their many friends.
MORTIMER E. DANFORTH, M. D.
Mortimer E. Danforth was born at Cascade, Kent county, Michigan, August 5, 1879, son of Dr. Mortimer W. and Francis E. (Campau) Dan- forth. His father was a native of Ohio, and his mother of Michigan, and they had four children, namely: Mortimer E., the subject of this sketch; Beatrice, wife of W. W. Kinginger, of Canton, Ohio; Ethel, who died at the age of eighteen years, and Sadie, who died two years later at the same age. The senior Doctor Danforth grew to manhood in Hudson, Ohio, served during the Civil War from its beginning to the end and was a prisoner in Andersonville for several months. After the war he studied medicine with his father and later graduated from the Philadelphia Medical College, fol- lowing which he began the practice of his profession at Cascade, Michigan, in 1870, and practiced there until his death, in 1895, aged fifty-three years. His widow survives him. Both were members of the Christian (Disciples) church. Dr. M. W. Danforth was born at Hudson, Ohio, August 28, 1843. His father, Horace Danforth, was a physician for many years at Hudson, Ohio. He was born at St. Albans, Vermont, in 1811, and moved to Ohio in 1820, where he began the practice of medicine, and he died there at nearly ninety years of age; his wife also lived to be very old. They were the parents of the following children: Frank, Mortimer W., Edwin, Clarence and Lavina.
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The maternal grandfather of Mortimer E. Danforth was Toussaint Campau and his wife was Emily DeMarsac. Both were natives of Mich- igan and of French descent. He made the first plat of the city of Grand Rapids, and he and his brother, Louis, owned the present site of that city and gave Campau park to the city, and Campau square at the other end of the street was named to honor Louis Campau. Toussaint Campau and his wife lived to old age. Their children were Victoria, Frances, Adolph, Louis and Henry.
Mortimer E. Danforth was reared in Cascade and attended the public school there, then went to Grand Rapids high school, and then to Olivet Col- lege a year, and three years in the medical department of the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, after which he graduated from the Grand Rapids Academy of Medicine, in 1902. He spent six months as interne at St. Mary's hospital, Grand Rapids; then to Greenville, Maine, where he had charge of a lumber hospital for two years. He then went to Boston, and was assistant to the professor of surgery in the Physicians and Surgeons College for two years, following which he located in Entrican, Michigan, for three years. In 1910 he came to Stanton, where he has since practiced.
On June 29, 1908, Mortimer E. Danforth married Daisy E. Robbins, daughter of Willard and Elizabeth (Carney) Robbins. They have an adopted son, Robert M. The Doctor and his wife are members of the Congregational church. He is a member of Stanton Star Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons and of Pine Grove Lodge No. 202, Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is also enrolled as a member of the county and state medical societies and the American Medical Association; is vice-president of the county society, and fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Mortimer E. Danforth is a Republican.
Mrs. Daisy (Robbins) Danforth was born in Ferris township, Mont- calm county, Michigan. Her father was a native of Oswego, New York, and her mother of Smyrna, Delaware, and both her parents are living in Ferris township, twelve miles east of Stanton, and are farmers. Their two children were Daisy E. and Charles L. The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Danforth was John A. Robbins, a soldier who was killed in the Civil War. He was a native of New York state. His wife was Maria Owens and their two children were Willard E. and Nora . J., now the wife of William Cooper. Mrs. Danforth's maternal grandfather was L. E. Carney and his wife was Sarah Carney, both natives of New Jersey. He was a carpenter. Their children were Emma, Anna, Rosalie, Charles, Elizabeth and two others.
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FRED A. JOHNSON, M. D.
Among the leaders in citizenship and in the professional circles of Greenville, Montcalm county, Michigan, is Dr. Fred A. Johnson, successful physician and surgeon, who was born in Dexter township, Washtenaw county, Michigan, on February 15, 1876, a son of Eugene and Cynthia W. (Fer- guson) Johnson, natives of New York state and of Ann Arbor, Michigan, respectively.
Eugene Johnson came with his parents to Michigan at an early age and after receiving his education in the public schools of this state became a farmer, prospering in this vocation until, at the time of his death, he was the owner of two hundred and seventy acres of good land. Mr. Johnson was an active member of the Methodist church, he and his wife both being active workers in this church, the elder Johnson giving liberally of his means for the support of the efforts of this denomination. Later in life, Mr. Johnson was affiliated with the Congregational church. The elder Johnson died in February, 1901. Eugene and Cynthia Johnson were the parents of eight children, of whom four are now living, namely: Charles D., a farmer liv- ing in Dexter township, Washtenaw county, Michigan; A. E., a painter of Chelsea, Michigan; Ella W., the wife of Herschel V. Walters, and Fred A.
Fred A. Johnson received his early education in the district schools of Washtenaw county and was graduated from the Chelsea high school in 1900. He then entered the medical department of the University of Michigan and after the completion of a full four-years course he was graduated in 1904, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. After the completion of his pro- fessional education Doctor Johnson came to Greenville, Montcalm county, and opened an office, where he is now engaged in the practice of his pro- fession, his success in his chosen work being a matter of note in this com- munity.
Not only has Dr. Fred A. Johnson been successful as a general prac- titioner, but he has found time from his busy life to devote to special med- ical work and he now is state medical examiner for tuberculosis in the dis- trict comprising the counties of Montcalm and Gratiot, being affiliated with the Michigan state hospital for tuberculosis at Howell. Doctor Johnson also takes a prominent place in the medical councils of the community, he now occupying the office of vice-president of the Montcalm County Medical Society.
On December 23, 1903, Fred A. Johnson was married to Jennie V.
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Kelsey, who was born in Montcalm county, near Lake View, a daughter of Martin W. Kelsey and wife, prominent people of their locality, they being well-known workers of the Congregational church, Mr. Kelsey having been a deacon in this church. Mrs. Johnson, prior to her marriage, was a suc- cessful school teacher in Montcalm county, she having prepared especially for her work at the University of Michigan.
Dr. Fred A. Johnson is prominently connected in the fraternal circles of the community, being a member of Greenville Lodge No. 329, Free and Accepted Masons, and together with his wife is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. Doctor Johnson is a member of LeRoy Lodge No. 9, Knights of Pythias, and is a member of Ionia Lodge No. 548, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
Politically, Dr. Fred A. Johnson is a Republican, and while he has taken no especial part in the political or official life of the town or county, he is known as a man and as a citizen who lends of his influence and of his efforts in the support of good measures and in the promotion of the candi- dacy and election of good officials. Doctor Johnson and his wife are among the most highly respected people of Greenville and of Montcalm county, their pleasing ways having won for them a host of friends.
O. A. BRIGGS.
Among the well-known farmers and stock raisers of Fairplain town- ship, Montcalm county, Michigan, is O. A. Briggs, who was born in Erie county, New York, August 11, 1855, a son of Oliver and Kesiah (Berry) Briggs, natives of New York state, the former a son of Charles Briggs, who came from Maine, the latter a daughter of Alvin Berry, who came from Vermont.
O. A. Briggs was educated in the public schools of New York state, after which he worked on the farms of his community until he was twenty- two years of age and then came to the state of Michigan, settling in Fair- plain township, where he worked as a farm helper for three years. Mr. Briggs then bought forty acres of land on the town line of Sidney and Fair- plain, a place which he improved and cultivated until 1892, when he pur- chased eighty acres of farm land in section 6, Fairplain township, to which he has added land until now he owns one hundred and twenty acres, all of which he cultivates as a general farmer and on which he engages in the
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raising of considerable quantities of good grade live stock. The farm of O. A. Briggs is known as "Maple Grove Farm."
During the year 1883 O. A. Briggs was married to Euphrenia Fleck, a daughter of George and Lepha Fleck, natives of Ohio and New York state, respectively. To the marriage of O. A. and Euphrenia Briggs have been born six children: Ray, Albert, DeEtta, Bessie and Hazel, who live at home, and Alberta, who is the wife of Milo Johnson, of McBride, Montcalm county.
For more than eighteen years O. A. Briggs has been a member of the township school board, during this time having rendered efficient and unselfish service in the interests of the public schools of Fairplain township and the vicinity.
O. A. Briggs is a prominent member of the Ancient Order of Gleaners, of Fairplain, and for a number of years Mr. Briggs held the office of chief gleaner. O. A. Briggs is one of the respected and esteemed citizens of Fair- plain township and of Montcalm county. Mr. Briggs is a Republican.
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