USA > Michigan > Oakland County > History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests Volume II > Part 13
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56
In his native land Peter E. Backer was reared to maturity and there he received his early educational training. At the age of twenty-two years he came to the United States, proceeding directly to Detroit, Michigan, where he remained and worked for the succeeding two years, at the ex- piration of which he was for two years employed in Royal Oak township. After his marriage, in 1894, he and his wife located on Meadow Brook Dairy Farm, a beautiful estate of one hundred and eighty-five acres in Royal Oak township. He engaged in the wholesale milk business and also devoted considerable attention to farming and the raising of high-grade stock. He still markets a great quantity of milk and he makes a specialty of breeding fine Holstein cattle, his herd being one of the finest in this
583
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
section of the state. In connection with his cattle-raising he is president of the Holstein-Friesian Club, at Royal Oak, the same having been or- ganized for the purpose of raising the standard of cattle breeding in Oak- land county. He is also a member of the Holstein Milk Producers Asso- ciation of Detroit. In his political convictions he accords an uncomprom- ising allegiance to the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor. While he has never sought the honors or emolu- ments of public office, he has been prevailed upon to serve as a supervisor of Royal Oak township and for ten years he has been a member of the board of school directors. He was reared in the faith of the Lutheran church but as there is no Lutheran church at Royal Oak he is unable to attend services of that denomination. In a fraternal way he is affiliated with Royal Oak Lodge, Free & Accepted Masons; Birmingham Chapter, Royal Arch Masons; and Pontiac Council, Royal & Select Masters.
Mr. Backer married, April 18, 1894, Miss Margaret Sorensen, who was born in the same section of Germany as was Mr. Backer and who came to America in the year 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Backer have no children of their own but they are caring for and educating two of Mr. Backer's sister's children. Mr. and Mrs. Backer are kindly, genial people, whose exemplary lives command to them the unqualified confidence and respect of their fellow citizens. They are broad-minded and sympathetic in their relations with their fellowmen and are always ready to lend a helping hand to those less fortunately situated in life than themselves.
FRANK J. VOWLES was born in Oakland county, Michigan, July 9, 1853, passed his whole life in this county and died here on his fifty-eighth birthday, July 9, 1911. He was a son of Hon. George and Julia ( Bowers) Vowles.
George Vowles was for many years a prominent and influential citi- zen of southeastern Michigan. He was born in Westburg, England, November 10, 1818, and when a small boy came to America, landing in New York in June, 1829. Onondaga county, New York, was his home until 1835, when he came to Michigan, where he spent the rest of his life. After living in Independence township, Oakland county, for five years he moved to Lyon township, which was his residence for nearly three decades. Here he died November 4, 1878. He took a prominent part in political affairs, and filled a number of official positions. For several years he served as supervisor of his township. In 1868 he was elected a member of the Michigan state legislature, in 1870 he was re- elected to that office, and he served two terms, performing his duties as a member of the legislature in such a manner as gave general satis- faction to his constituency and reflected credit on himself.
Frank J. Vowles was reared on his father's farm and passed his life in agricultural pursuits. Much of his time, however, he gave to public service. For a number of years he filled the office of township treasurer. In 1894 he was elected supervisor of the township, and for eighteen years he filled this office. He was chairman of the county board of supervisors for about two years, and also chairman of the building committee, which erected the Oakland county court house in 1904, at a cost of $150,000, and which is considered one of the best buildings of its kind, for the price, in the state of Michigan.
In April, 1875, Mr. Vowles married Miss Kate Hollenbeck, of New Hudson, Michigan. She was born at Ypsilanti, this state, in 1855, daugh-
584
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
ter of Albert and Augusta C. (Durfee) Hollenbeck, the former a native of Canada and the latter of Drayton Plains, Michigan. Albert Hollen- beck came north to Michigan with his parents at an early day in the history of the state, and his father, who was a physician, was engaged in the practice of his profession here. Albert Hollenbeck had the advant- age of a thorough education and was a fine business man. During the latter part of his life he lived on a farm. His death occurred at New Hudson, Michigan. To Mr. and Mrs. Vowles were given two children, Mabel and Elizabeth, both of whom have attended the Ypsilanti Normal School. Miss Elizabeth Vowles is now a teacher in the schools of Roch- ester, Michigan. The elder daughter, Mabel, was a teacher previous to her marriage. She is the wife of Willard M. Snyder and the mother of two children, namely : Elizabeth, born August 27, 1903, and Howard, June 15, 1905. Mr. Snyder has the management of Mrs. Vowles' farm, comprising one hundred and twenty acres, and is successfully conducting its operations. Mrs. Hollenbeck, Mrs. Vowles' mother, resides with Mrs. Vowles and Mr. and Mrs. Snyder.
At Mr. Vowles' death his popularity was attested to in many ways. The board of supervisors tendered the family resolutions of sympathy, and the local press spoke in high terms of his honorable, upright life.
FRANCIS M. BUTTON, who occupies the old Button homestead in Lyon township, Oakland county, Michigan, ranks with the prosperous farm- ers of his locality. He was born here December 2, 1859, and is a son of George W. and Juliette (Covy) Button.
George Button in early life accompanied his father from Wales, their native country, to the United States and settled in Pennsylvania, and subsequently he came to Michigan. Here, at first, he taught school in winter and farmed in summer. In the early '50s he engaged in mer- chandising at New Hudson, and until 1860 conducted a store there. In the meantime he had invested in land, and in 1860 he moved to his farm in section 2, Lyons township. In 1880 he built the commodious residence now occupied by his son, Francis M., and here he passed the rest of his life and died, his death occurring in 1891. His good wife survived him until 1911. His estate comprised three hundred and twenty acres, two hundred of which is now owned by his son, Francis M., one hundred acres having been set off for other heirs.
Here the son was reared, receiving his education in the public school at New Hudson ; and here he has since resided, devoting his energies to agricultural pursuits. Politically he is a Republican, stanch in his sup- port of party principles, but never aspiring for official preferment. The only fraternal organization to which he belongs is the Maccabees. His father was prominent in local affairs, having filled the office of justice of the peace for thirty-two consecutive years, and also having served a number of years as school director.
HENRY C. STEVENSON is a prominent druggist of South Lyons. Michigan. He is well-liked by his neighbors and fellow townsmen, and is a man in whom everyone places the highest confidence and with whom everyone feels at ease. Mr. Stevenson first entered the drug business August 3, 1892, when he became a clerk for Mr. S. Hemans, of South Lyons. During the five years that he remained with him he attended the Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso, Indiana, and on August 5,
585
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
1895, received his degree of pharmacy from that institution. In March, 1897, he went to Ypsilanti to clerk for Mr. Frank Smith, the oldest drug- gist in Ypsilanti. He remained there until June, 1898, when he returned to his father's farm for a rest and to be married to Miss Nettie Ander- son, of Toronto, Canada, at the time, but a native of Gault county, Canada. The ceremony took place on August 3, 1898. Miss Anderson's parents were Isaac and Caroline West (Sparrow) Anderson. Her father is a real estate dealer and is now living in California. A few days after his marriage, Mr. Stevenson returned . to South Lyons to take charge of the drug business of Mr. Hemans, the man who had originally launched him into the drug world. In the spring of 1899, tired of in- door life, he left the store to go to the farm, which he and his brother had purchased in Green Oak town. Soon after, however, his brother enlisted as a soldier to fight in the Spanish-American war, and Henry C. bought his share in the farm, whose acreage he still owns. Five years later he returned to South Lyons and purchased Mr. Hemans' drug business.
Mr. Stevenson was born in Van Buren, Wayne county, Michigan, September 25, 1874, the son of James K. and Fidelia (Post) Stevenson. Both parents were natives of Michigan, and his grandfather, who was a miller at what was later known as Woodruff's Mill, at Brighton, home- steaded on some land near Van Buren. During Henry C. Stevenson's residence in Green Oak, he was town treasurer, and since his return to South Lyons he has been town clerk for one year. Mr. and Mrs. Stevenson have had two children, Ida C., born August 5, 1900, and Helen J., born January 29, 1905. The family attends the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Stevenson is a Democrat.
MYRON M. TRYON, a resident of South Tryon, Michigan, is an old soldier, and one of the heroes of that war whose scars the country still carries. He enlisted twice, and during his second enlistment was wounded so severely that he had to be discharged as unfit for service. This wound made it necessary to amputate his leg above the knee. Always in the thick of the fight in every battle in which he participated and never fail- ing, even at the risk of his life, to help a wounded comrade, he was a perfect type of the brave men whom the whole country now holds in grateful love and respect. Mr. Tryon faced death many times because of his patriotism for his country, one of the noblest virtues man has, and that it was an evidence of an unusually strong and sturdy character no one who knows the man now can doubt.
Although Mr. Tryon was born in Quebec, November 7, 1837, he is really a native New Yorker, since his parents, Abel and Sarah (Lewis) Tryon, were merely there on an outing, and returned to their home in Beekmanton, Clinton county, New York, three months after his birth. Mr. Tryon, Sr., was a native of Connecticut, and Mrs. Tryon, of Ver- mont. Mr. M. M. Tryon attended the district school until September 27, 1861, when he enlisted in Company H, Sixtieth New York Infantry. During the winters of '61 and '62 his regiment did guard duty on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and in the spring of 1862 they moved to Harper's Ferry. During the summer they were under General Banks in the Shenandoah Valley. In the second battle of Bull Run his regiment became disorganized and Mr. Tryon became separated from them. He reported to the army headquarters at Washington, D. C., and was sent
586
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
to the hospital. After a term there he was removed to the convalescent camps at Alexandria, Virginia, and in February, 1863, was discharged as unfit for service. This dictum, however, hardly satisfied him. He re- turned to his father's farm determined to win back his health in as short a time as possible. Plenty of work out in the open air soon accomplished his purpose, and in October, 1863, he enlisted again, in the Fourteenth New York Heavy Artillery, and joined the regiment at Rochester, New York. Soon after his arrival the regiment was sent to Staten Island, New York, and from there to Virginia. Their first engagement was in the battle of the Wilderness, which was quickly followed by a battle at Spottsylvania Courthouse. When his regiment next met the enemy at Cold Harbor, Mr. Tryon was shot in the leg. The battle took place June 1, 1864, and on the next day it was found necessary to amputate his leg above the knee. The operation was performed on the field. He was then sent. to the hospital at Washington, D. C., where after a two months' treatment he was able to get about on crutches. He was given a thirty days' furlough to go home, which was later extended to three months. In December, 1864, he went to the General Hospital at Al- bany, New York, and remained here through the winter and spring. He was again transferred to St. Joseph's Hospital, at Central Park, New York, and was finally taken to the General Hospital at Worcester, Massachusetts, where he was fitted for a limb. He was discharged in October, 1865.
In the meantime his elder brother, Ora Tryon, had gone to Muir, Michigan, and had settled on a farm near there. In the winter of 1865 Myron M. and a sister followed him west, and rented a farm near their brother's. They later moved into the village of Muir. Stillman Tryon's death occurred in the meantime, and Myron married his widow in March, 1866. Before her marriage she had been Martha Bond and was born in New York. The death of her husband left her with four children. Nine years later, on the farm near Muir, her own death occurred, and on September 3, 1876, Mr. Tryon was married again, to Mrs. Nancy (Slater) Renn, of Sheridan, Evergreen county, Michigan, a widow with two sons and two daughters. Immediately after his marriage Mr. Tryon moved out into the country on a farm. While here he was elected justice of the peace to fill out an uncompleted term, with one and a half years more, and was again elected for three full terms. He thus served al- together for fourteen years. He also acted as town clerk for one year, and was assessor of fractional school district number 4, of Evergreen Lawn, for several years. In 1903 Mr. Tryon and his family moved to South Lyon, purchasing a home there. They also have a residence in Florida. He works in his garden for exercise, but outside of that has retired from active business. One granddaughter lives with them. Mr. Tryon is a member of Stansell Post, G. A. R., No. 456. He is inde- pendent in his politics and in his religion.
DR. LYMAN A. SAYLES, of South Lyons, Michigan, a semi-retired physician, received his medical training in a way for which the oppor- tunity is rarely given nowadays. At the age of sixteen, in June, 1862, he enlisted in Company H. Michigan Third Infantry, for three years' service. By order of the War Department one thousand men were de- tailed as hospital stewards, one to be placed in each regiment under the surgeon in order to strengthen the medical department of the army. Dr.
-
58
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
Sayles was the one chosen to serve in his regiment, and the work he did while performing his duties in that capacity gave him a far more stren- uous and thorough training than probably any of our largest hospitals give their internes today. After his enlistment with the army expired he again took up the study of medicine, spending two years in Indiana under Dr. Arnold and two years in study and practice with Dr. Mallory in Michigan. His eldest brother, Dr. Edwin F. Sayles, then took him under his direction for the next two years. He first practised medicine in Kent, Montcalm, and Ionia counties, and did not come to Oakland county, until 1892. When the Michigan state medical examination was enacted in 1900 he went before the board at Bay City and received his certificate.
Dr. Sayles was born in Keene, Ionia county, Michigan, October 21, 1844, one of a family of ten boys and five girls. His father, Cyrenus C. Sayles, was born in Lewiston, New York, in 1812, and his mother, Eliza (Gardner) Sayles, was of German extraction. They came to Michigan in the early days and settled upon a three hundred and twenty acre farm of oak timber land, which they spent the next few years in clearing. Lyman attended the district school during the three months' winter term, and at the age of thirteen passed the usual town examination for a teacher's certificate. As he was not allowed to teach, however, because of a state law requiring the applicant to be at least sixteen years old, he entered a private school at Fallisburg, Michigan, one and a half miles away. He attended there for a year and a half during the winter, and then changed to Lowell Academy, at Lowell. A year later he left school to enlist in the army.
A year and a half after his enlistment, on November 3, 1862, he was discharged by a surgeon's certificate for disability and sickness, but in the fall of 1864 he again enlisted, in the Sixth Michigan Cavalry, Company A, and continued with his regiment until the the Grand Re- view in Washington, D. C. The regiment was then transferred to the west to assist in quieting the uprising of Pawnee and Sioux Indians. He remained with the regiment for five months, and was then sent out as a government scout until the end of his enlistment. He is now a member of Stantial Post, G. A. R., of South Lyon.
Between his enlistments Dr. Sayles was married, on February 24, 1863, to Miss Sarah E. Marston, of Lubec, Maine, and they have had two children, Emmet Clayton, at present the prosecuting attorney at Sandusky county, Ohio, and Jesse E., of Grand Rapids, Michigan, an expert finisher in cement work.
1
JOHN CHALLIS. If the right of John Challis, of South Lyon, to a place among the representative men of Oakland county does not rest upon his birth, it has at least established his continuous and useful life here and his devotion as a citizen to the best interests of the com- munity. He is a native of stalwart England, and comes of a race of sturdy yeomen, the family being well known in England, where Mr. Challis' father was for a number of years employed by the Great East- ern Railroad. He was born in 1852, a son of Charles and Susan (Snare) Challis, and received such education as was customary with lads of his period and sphere of life. In 1871 he immigrated to the United States, landing at Boston, Massachusetts, and coming thence directly to South Lyon, Michigan, where he entered a blacksmith shop and there served
588
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
. a full apprenticeship of three years. Although his wages were meagre, he had been reared to learn the value of industry and economy, and when he had completed his education had managed to save enough to purchase a business of his own. In 1876 he was married to Miss Mary A. Gready, of Green Oak, Michigan, who was born there, her parents, George and Sophia Gready, being farming people of Michigan. John Challis has been engaged in the blacksmith and carriage business for the past quarter of a century, and now has a well-equipped establishment fitted not only to do all the work called for by those business enter- prises, but also for the repair of automobiles. and carries also a full line of all kind of equipment for horses. He erected a large double brick store and commands his full share of the patronage of his com- munity. During the past eight years Mr. Challis has served in the capacity of village councilman, and has also been village clerk for one year and treasurer for a like period. His fraternal connection is with the Masons, and religiously he is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and acting on its board of trustees.
Charles Challis, only son of John and Mary A. (Gready) Challis, was born February 28, 1879, at South Lyon, Michigan, and here se- cured his early education. When he became old enough to work he started helping his father in the shop and implement business, and on reaching the age of twenty years entered the Peoria (Illinois) Horol- ogiographic School. One year later he returned to South Lyon and en- gaged in the jewelry business, in which he has continued to the pres- ent time. In 1900 he was appointed agent for the United States Ex- press Company, and in 1903 was made manager for the South Lyon Telephone Company, which later sold to the Livingston County Tele- phone Company, of Howell, Michigan, the latter firm, in turn, selling to the Home and Long Distance Telephone Company. In 1910 Mr. Challis took and successfully passed the examination in optometry be- fore the Michigan state board of examiners.
Mr. Challis was married September 5, 1900, to Miss Alice Callen, of South Lyon, Michigan, born at Paradise, Kansas, daughter of Rus- sell and Merith ( Skinner) Callen. Her father served in the Mechan- ical Corps of the United States Army in bridge building. Mr. and Mrs. Challis have four children: Hazel Mary, born July 2, 1901 ; Grace Maud, born January 9, 1903; John Russell, born January II, 1907; and Melvin Dean born, June 2, 1909. The family attends the Meth- odist church, and in his political views Mr. Challis is a Republican.
LEDRU R. HUNTER, one of the prosperous farmers of Oakland county, Michigan, is the owner of six hundred and fifty acres of land, on which is the largest barn in the county. This barn was built by Mr. Hunter in 1907. The main part of the structure is 46 by 106 feet, and it has a rear addition, 46 by 60 feet. It has three floors, with a stabling capacity of 100 head of cattle and 20 horses on the first floor ; 600 sheep on the second floor, where also are the grain bins, holding 6,000 bushels of grain ; while in the lofts there is room for storing 300 tons of hay. Mr. Hunter has machinery for the grinding of feed for his cattle and sheep, and he employs from six to ten men all the time in the care of his stock and the cultivation of his fields and doing other work. An important feature of his farm is his apple orchard. In IQII from seven acres he sold $2,400 worth of fruit. He has proved
589
HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY
beyond question the advantage of taking scientific care of orchards. He maintains a spraying outfit for his own orchard and operates it on a percentage basis in other orchards throughout this locality.
Mr. Hunter is a native of Rutland county, Vermont. He was born August 1, 1855, son of Judge Rollin C. Hunter and wife, Lorette (Wor- cester) Hunter, and when a small boy, in 1861, came with his parents to Michigan, their settlement being in Lyon township, Oakland county, where his father purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land and settled down to farming. In Vermont he had practiced law and had served as a judge. He died on his Michigan farm in 1881, and his good wife survived him until 1902.
After the death of their father, Ledru R. and Herbert C. Hunter took charge of the farm, and have been engaged in farming operations ever since.
In 1893 Ledru R. Hunter and Mrs. Julia (Vowles) Butterfield were united in marriage, and to them have been given two children: R. Clarence, born in June, 1894, is now a junior at the Ann Arbor high school of Michigan, and William C., who was born in 1896, died April 6, 1908. By her first husband, Mrs. Hunter has one son, John F. But- terfield. Mr. Hunter has a sister, Miss Ione Hunter, who has real estate interests in Lyon township, Oakland county, and who is a resi- dent of Ann Arbor.
Politically Mr. Hunter is a Republican, and at different times he has filled a number of local offices, including those of supervisor, school assessor and justice of the peace. He has been school assessor of District No. I ever since he came here in 1880, and he has served as justice of the peace for twenty-five consecutive years.
HENRY MARTIN ZIMMERMANN. Although the product of a neigh- boring county in birth, education and many years' residence among its people, a number of which were devoted to their service in important capacities, Henry M. Zimmerman has been a resident of Pontiac long enough to become familiar with and actively interested in the needs of this city and the county in which it is located, and to attain the rank of one of its leading and most progressive citizens and professional men.
Mr. Zimmerman was born in Marine City, St. Clair county, Mi- chigan, on July 7, 1867, and is a son of Frederick W. and Charlotta (Allmann ) Zimmermann, natives of Germany. The father came to the United States before he reached the age of twenty-one years, and located in Buffalo, New York. He was married to the mother there in 1851, and for a time after their marriage they lived at Dunkirk, New York. They came to Michigan in 1853 and located in Newport, now Marine City, where the father died in 1887. He was a ship-carpenter. In church connection he was a Lutheran, and in political relations he was independent. The mother was born in Germany, on June 24, 1827, and in early girlhood came to this country with one of her brothers and an older sister. They all took up their residence in Buffalo, New York, where, as stated above, she met and was married to the father. She died at Marine City, Michigan, on January 20, 1905, at the advanced age of seventy-eight. She and her husband were the parents of ten children, five of whom are living: Caroline Schreiner, Charles F., Fred W., John F. and Henry M. The four brothers constitute the firm of Zimmerman Brothers, hardware dealers in Marine City, in which
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.