USA > Michigan > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph County, Michigan; Volume II > Part 19
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In November, 1863, Mr. Cooke took up his residence in Three Rivers, Michigan, where he has since maintained his home and where he has made for himself a place of prominence and influence in civic and business affairs. In November of the year mentioned, he assumed the position of foreman in the office of the Three Rivers Reporter, and he retained this incumbancy until 1868, when he purchased a half interest in the business, in which he was there- after associated with Wilbur H. Clute until January, 1876, when he retired from the firm. While connected with the Reporter he introduced the first rotary job printing press into Three Rivers. He passed the greatest part of the following year in the east, and upon his return to Three Rivers he established a job printing office, to which he gave his attention until August, 1878, when, in connection therewith, he founded the Three Rivers Tribune, in- troducing therewith the first steam power printing press ever brought into the city-a four-roller Campbell "Complete" press. He continued editor and publisher until 1895, when he disposed of the plant and business. Since that time he has lived virtually retired. He made of the Tribune one of the model country papers of Michigan, both in the matter of letter-press and news and edi- torial functions. The aggressive policy and enterprising methods
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of Mr. Cooke were shown not only in connection with the specific business affairs of his newspaper and job office, but also in the advanced stand maintained in the furtherance of all measures tending to further the best interests of the community and the able and effective influence given in support of the principles and policies of the Republican party, to which he has ever given an unqualified allegiance. In 1890 Mr. Cooke was appointed post- master of Three Rivers, and he continued incumbent of this office for four years, under the administration of President Harrison. He retired after the election of Grover Cleveland to the presidency and had no hesitation in admitting himself to be an "offensive partisan."
Mr. Cooke has at all times been zealous and unselfish in his civic attitude and through the columns of his paper as well as through personal influence he has done much to forward the com- mercial and social progress of his home city and county. He is a man of well fortified opinions and has never lacked in the courage to uphold his convictions, but his genial and kindly nature has made him tolerant of the views of others, so that his antagonisms have not created objective rancor. He is known and respected by the people of St. Joseph county and now, free from the exactions of active business, he finds the full and gracious measure of solace and enjoyment in the indulgence of much and well directed read- ing and the companionship of friends who are tried and true. He served for a number of years as a member of the board of educa- tion, was a member of the village council about four years, prior to the incorporation of Three Rivers under a city charter, and he was the first secretary of the public-library board of Three Rivers. He is one of the appreciative and valued members of Ed. M. Prutzman Post, No. 72, Grand Army of the Republic, and served several terms as adjutant and two terms as its commander. In 1909-10 he was aide-de-camp on the staff of Commander-in-chief of the G. A. R., Samuel R. Van Sant, of Minnesota. Mr. Cooke's wife is a communicant of the First Methodist Episcopal church of Three Rivers and he is a member of the society and of the board of trustees of the church. He was a member of the directorate of the old Three Rivers National Bank, and also a stockholder and director of the First National Bank of this city.
On the 23d of February, 1870, was solemnized the marriage .of Mr. Cooke to Miss Sarah M. Rice, who was born in Trucksville, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, on the 7th of November, 1840, and who is a daughter of Rev. John P. and Sally Ann (Kunkle) Rice,
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the former of whom was born on a farm near Hope, Warren county, New Jersey, and the latter near Blairstown, that state, a daughter of Philip and Maria Kunkle. Rev. John P. Rice was a local preacher in the Methodist Episcopal church, as was also his father, Rev. Jacob Rice, who likewise was a native of Warren county, New Jersey, and a son of Christopher Rice. The latter was born in Hesse, Germany, in 1757, and was an only son. At the age of nineteen he emigrated to this country with a band of Hessian soldiers to assist the British forces in the Revolutionary war, but after the battle of Trenton, New Jersey, he deserted and joined the American forces and became a stanch supporter of the colonies. After the close of the war he settled near Hope, Warren county, New Jersey, where he was thereafter engaged in farming until his death. His son Jacob removed thence to Trucksville, Pennsyl- vania, in the vicinity of which place he became the owner of a large farm. He married Sarah Cooke, a daughter of Levi Cooke, who was a brother of Consider Cooke, paternal great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, so that Mr. Cooke and his wife are of distant kinship in a collateral line. Rev. Jacob Rice and his wife continued to reside in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, until their death. Their son John P., father of Mrs. Cooke, was a sub- stantial agriculturist and business man of that county, where he operated a woolen mill and conducted a general store. He was a prominent and influential citizen, was a local preacher in the Methodist church, as already stated, and late in life he sold all of his farm land and business property and lived retired, at Hun- lock Creek, Luzerne county, until his death, at the age of eighty- one years. His wife died at the age of fifty-eight years, and of their children two sons and one daughter are now living. Mr. and Mrs. Cooke have one daughter, Florence, who is the wife of Victor H. Van Horn, a representative business man of Three Rivers. Mr. and Mrs. Van Horn have three children: Robert C., Bernard S. and George W.
CAPT. CHARLES P. WHEELER .- Residing in the city of Three 'Rivers and giving his attention principally to the management of the affairs of the large landed estate of the family in Flowerfield township, Captain Wheeler is a native son of St. Joseph county and is a scion of one of its honored pioneer families, of which he is a representative of the third generation in the county, with whose history the name has been identified for three-quarters of a century. Within this period this section of the Wolverine state
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has been developed from the status of little more than a forest wilderness into one of the most opulent and progressive districts of the Michigan commonwealth. The captain maintains his home in Three Rivers save during the winter seasons, which he custom- arily passes in the state of California.
Capt. Charles Partridge Wheeler, who receives his military title from gallant service as an officer in the Spanish-American war, was born in Three Rivers, Michigan, on the 21st of August, 1866, and is a son of William E. and Orissa (Partridge) Wheeler, both of whom were born and reared in the state of New York, where their marriage was solemnized. The first representative of the Wheeler family in St. Joseph county was Daniel Wheeler, grandfather of him whose name initiates this sketch. This hon- ored ancestor, who was of stanch English lineage, was likewise a native of the state of New York and was a member of a family that was founded in New England in the colonial epoch of our national history. He was a successful merchant in his native state, whence he came to Michigan in 1835, about two years prior to the admis- sion of the state to the Union. In Flowerfield township, St. Joseph county, he secured by entry and purchased a tract of fourteen hundred acres of wild land, a considerable portion of which is still retained in the family possession, now constituting a most valuable property. Daniel Wheeler did not personally establish his home in Michigan, but soon returned to New York state, where he died in the prime of life.
William E. Wheeler, father of the captain, was a man of broad mental ken and marked business sagacity, and he did much to further the industrial and civic upbuilding of Three Rivers and St. Joseph county. In 1859 he came to Three Rivers, which was then a mere village in the midst of the forests surrounding, and here he became one of the pioneer merchants of the county, the while he assumed the supervision of the reclamation of the large tract of land previously secured by his father, in Flowerfield town- ship. He continued in the mercantile business for a period of fully twenty years and he gained precedence as one of the repre- sentative business men and influential citizens of the county. He was a stanch advocate of the principles and policies of the Demo- cratic party and was zealous in the support of its cause. He gave his aid and influence in support of all measures and enterprises projected for the general good of the community, and was known as a broad-minded, liberal and progressive citizen, as well as a man of insuperable integrity and honor. He was one of the or-
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ganizers of the Three Rivers National Bank and served for a time as its cashier. He was an appreciative member of the time- honored Masonic fraternity and his religious faith was that of the Episcopal church, of which his widow also is a devoted member. He ordered his life to goodly ends, so that there is all of justice and consistency in the high honor accorded to his memory in the city and county that so long represented his home. He died in Three Rivers, on the 18th of January, 1881. His widow now main- tains her home in Los Angeles, California, and is venerable in years. She was a gracious figure in the social life of Three Riv- ers for many years, and here her circle of devoted friends is lim- ited only by that of her acquaintances. She was born at Seneca Falls, Seneca county, New York, and is a daughter of Erastus and Sarah (Bruffu) Partridge. Her father was born at Norwich, Connecticut, on the 9th of May, 1798, and as a young man he re- moved to the state of New York and engaged in the mercantile business at Cayuga. In 1824 he established a branch store at Seneca Falls, and eventually he transferred his entire business to the latter place, where he met with great success in his various operations. In 1848 he engaged in the banking business, and in 1859 he established the Bank of Seneca Falls. During the disas- trous financial panic in 1857 his was one of only three or four banks in the state that met all obligations. Soon after the institu- tion of the national-bank system he secured a charter for his bank, as the First National Bank of Seneca Falls, and he continued as president of the institution until his death. He was without doubt the most influential citizen of Seneca Falls, where he gave his sup- port to all worthy causes and was a large stockholder in most of the leading industrial concerns. In 1820 was solemnized his mar- riage to Miss Sarah Bruffu, a daughter of William and Ann Bruffu. She was born at Homer, New York, in 1797, and her death occurred on the 5th of February, 1881, her husband having been summoned to the life eternal on the 20th of January, 1873.
William E. and Orissa (Partridge) Wheeler became the par- ents of one son and four daughters, and two of the daughters died in childhood. Jessie is the widow of James W. Morgan, of Los Angeles, California ; and Laura E. is the widow of Renick C. Car- son, of Los Angeles, California. The only son is the immediate subject of this sketch.
Capt. Charles P. Wheeler is indebted to the public schools of Three Rivers for his early educational discipline, which was sup- plemented by a course in the Michigan Military Academy, at Or-
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chard Lake, long one of the splendid educational institutions of the state and one whose closing, only a short time ago, was a source of unqualified regret to its many alumni, as well as to the people of the state in general. In this academy Captain Wheeler was graduated as a member of the class of 1884, and thereafter he con- tinued his studies for two years in the literary department of the University of Michigan. In 1889 he became associated with his brother-in-law, James W. Morgan, in the banking business at Bellingham, Washington, where he was thus engaged for a period of seven years. Upon his retirement, in 1893, he went to Cali- fornia, and there he remained until 1896, when he returned to Three Rivers, where he has since maintained his home.
Captain Wheeler's thorough military training at Orchard Lake has begotten an abiding interest in military affairs, and that he has not held himself aloof from definite polemic service is shown in the fact that at the inception of the war with Spain, in 1898, he promptly enlisted as a member of Company K, Thirty- third Michigan Volunteer Infantry. This regiment was mustered into the United States service on the 20th of May, 1898, and Cap- tain Wheeler forthwith received his commission as captain of Company K. The regiment was commanded by Colonel Charles L. Boynton, of Port Huron, and it started for Camp Alger, Vir- ginia, on the 28th of May. The regiment participated in the ex- pedition, under General Shafter, against Santiago, and bore its full share of the dangers and hardships of that expedition, in which Captain Wheeler proved a most gallant commanding of- ficer, retaining the unqualified confidence and regard of his men as well as of his superior officers. The regiment continued in ac- tive service until the close of the war and was mustered out at Three Rivers, on the 4th of January, 1899. Captain Wheeler manifests his continued interests in his comrades by retaining membership in the Spanish War Veterans Association.
In politics Captain Wheeler is arrayed as a stalwart sup- porter of the cause of the Republican party, and while he has given effective service in behalf of the party he has only once ap- peared as a candidate for public office. In 1901 he was elected representative from St. Joseph county to the state legislature, in which he served the regular term of two years and made an excel- lent record. His election to this office was the more gratifying by reason of the fact that he was candidate on the ticket of a party that was normally much in the minority in the county, showing that his friends in the opposition party rallied to his support at
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the polls. He is affiliated with the Three Rivers organizations of the Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen of America, and while a student in the military academy at Ann Arbor he held membership in the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity. He is well known in his native county and his personal popularity here is of the most unequivocal type, as his genial and buoyant nature and un- varying courtesy have gained him stanch friends in all classes.
On the 1st of June, 1899, Captain Wheeler was united in mar- riage to Miss Cora Drusilla Sager, who was born in Pavilion town- ship, Kalamazoo county, Michigan, and is a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of that county. Her father, Joseph Sager, was likewise born in Pavilion township, on the 21st of April, 1845, and is a son of John Sager, who was a native of Ohio, whence he came to Michigan and settled in Kalamazoo county in the early pioneer epoch. He erected a water-power saw mill in Pavilion township and in addition to operating the same he super- vised the clearing of his land. He became one of the prosperous pioneer farmers and business men of that township, where he con- tinued to reside until his death. The maiden name of his wife was Ann Carney, and she was born in September, 1820. At the time of this writing, in 1910, she still resides at Pavilion, and Sep- tember of this year celebrated her ninetieth birthday, thus being practically the oldest pioneer now resident of Kalamazoo county. Joseph Sager continued to assist his father in the operation of the mill and farm until his marriage, and he then came to St. Joseph county and purchased a farm in Flowerfield township, where he continued to reside until 1898, since which time he has maintained his home in Three Rivers, where he is living retired, after many years of earnest and productive endeavor which placed him among the most extensive farmers of the county, even as he is one of its well known and sterling citizens. His wife, whose maiden name was Catherine Imogene Bartlett, was born at Gilboa, Schoharie county, New York, in 1850, and is a daughter of George and Har- riet (Bouten) Bartlett, likewise natives of the old Empire state, whence they came to St. Joseph county and located in Flowerfield township fully a half-century ago. Mr. Bartlett followed his trade of wagonmaker, in connection with farming, and continued his residence in Flowerfield township until his death, in 1897. His wife passed to the life eternal in 1888, and they are survived by one son and one daughter. Captain and Mrs. Wheeler have no children.
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SAMUEL ARROWSMITH WALTON, a retired business man of Three Rivers, was born near Chillicothe, Ross county, Ohio, No- vember 17, 1826, and is a son of John Walton, who was a native of New Jersey, and came to Ohio about 1819, locating in Ross county, where he worked at his trade of cooper and also conducted a farm. In 1834 Mr. Walton removed to Crawford county, and later to Wyandot county, Ohio, where he died in 1835, a young man of thirty-eight years. John Walton married Casander Rit- ter, a native of Kentucky, who died at about the age of fifty-two years. Of their nine children six grew to maturity, four sons and two daughters, of whom Samuel A. is now the only survivor.
The boyhood of Mr. Walton was spent in Wyandot county, Ohio, and in 1850 he removed to McLean county, Illinois, travel- ing on horseback. He purchased one hundred and sixty acres of prairie land for one hundred and forty dollars, which he im- proved. June 2, 1851, in Colon, Michigan, he married Mary A. Bissell, a native of Pennsylvania, and they returned to the home in Illinois with a wagon, camping out by the way. They remained on this farm six years after marriage, adding eighty acres of prairie and twenty acres of timber; they then sold out and re- moved to Three Rivers, Michigan, arriving there in the spring of 1857. He at once purchased a store building and engaged in mer- cantile business, which he followed about seventeen years, with good success.
Mr. Walton assisted in organizing the First National Bank of Three Rivers, in 1864; he served twenty-five years as director, also some years as vice president and president. In 1903 Mr. Walton sold his stock in the bank and has since been retired from active business. He owns considerable real estate, and is a self- made man, having acquired his property and success through his own enterprise and ambition. Mr. Walton has traveled exten- sively, having been in every state of the Union except five, and in 1894 he took a trip to Europe, traveling through England, Ire- land, Scotland, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy and France. He spent three weeks in London, also some time in Rome and Paris. Mrs. Walton, who was born in 1828, died in 1884, leaving four children, namely : Myron K., Marion I., May E. and Sherman G. Mr. Walton married (second) in 1886, Jennie Wheeler, who was born in Michigan, in 1858.
Mr. Walton is a stanch supporter of the Republican party and has served as a member of the school board and as a member of the City Council. Mr. Walton has been a resident of Three Riv-
6.2. Blood
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ers for a period of fifty-three years, and has been identified with the progress and development of the city. He has lived in one house forty-two years. He has given liberally to every worthy ob- ject and has assisted in building every church in the city. Mr. Walton gave $3,500 to the Methodist Episcopal church, and has attended the same church for a period of forty-two years. He is well known throughout the county, where he is universally re- spected and esteemed.
CHARLES L. BLOOD .- A strong and noble character was that of the late Charles Lyman Blood, who exerted an emphatic and beneficent influence in connection with civic, business and finan- cial affairs in St. Joseph county during the long period of nearly half a century, and who ever commanded secure vantage ground in the confidence and esteem of all who knew him. He gained suc- cess through his individual ability and application, ever stand- ing exemplar of that integrity of purpose which figures as the plumb of character and makes for objective valuation in connec- tion with the varied relations of life. He was a financier of marked discrimination and conservatism and was long and prominently identified with the affairs of the First National Bank of Three Rivers, of which institution he served in turn as cashier and presi- dent, and his aid and influence were ever accorded in support of all measures and enterprises that tended to advance the material and social well-being of the community. His strength was as the number of his days and he was summoned from this mortal life in the fulness of years and honors, his death occurring at his home, in the city of Three Rivers, on the 3d of July, 1907, at the venerable age of seventy-nine years, eleven months and eight days.
Charles Lyman Blood was born at Westminster, Windham county, Vermont, on the 25th of August, 1827, and was a son of Ivory and Susan (Lindsay) Blood, the former of whom was born in Pepperell, Middlesex county, Massachusetts, and the latter was a native of Jamaica, Windham county, Vermont. The father de- voted his entire active career to agricultural pursuits and passed the closing years of his life at Cavendish, Vermont, as did also his cherished and devoted wife. He was a man of strong men- tality and sterling integrity, and his political allegiance was given to the Whig party. The subject of this memoir was reared to the sturdy discipline of the New England farm, and he waxed strong in mind and body through hard manual labor and through availing himself of such educational advantages as were afforded
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in the common schools of the locality and period. Like many another youth reared under similar conditions, he initiated his in- dependent career with no financial reinforcement, but his equip- ment of energy, ambition and integrity of purpose proved ade- quate, as is shown by the fact that he won large and definite success through his own well directed efforts, the while he gained and retained the inviolable confidence and regard of those with whom he came in contact during the passing years. Honesty of purpose and honesty of character indicated the man during the entire course of his active and useful career as one of the world's noble army of productive workers, and upon the history of his life there rests no shadow of wrong or injustice. He was thirty- one years of age at the time of his marriage, in 1858, and before the close of that year he set forth with his bride for Michigan, which was then considered by residents of New England as being in the "far west." He made Kalamazoo county his destination and located in the village of Schoolcraft, where he entered into partnership with other men and engaged in the general mer- chandise business, in which he continued for seven years, at the expiration of which the partnership was dissolved and he removed to Three Rivers, which place ever afterward represented his home and the scene of his earnest and productive endeavors. Here he established his home in 1864, at which time he became cashier of the old First National Bank, an incumbency which he retained for nineteen years, after which he served for thirteen consecutive years as president of the institution, to whose upbuilding as one of the strong and popular banking houses of the state he con- tributed in large measure, through his executive ability and through the prestige of his sterling character. He retired from the presidency only when impaired health demanded this action. He was essentially careful and conservative in all of his business transactions and associations, and this fact made him a strong power in connection with financial and commercial affairs in this section of the state. He was a man of distinct individuality, strong in his convictions but not intolerant, always firm in the right but with no room in his heart for revenge. Compassion and pity dwelt with him as constant guests; flattery could not cajole him into compromise nor power awe him into silence. True to himself and his ideals, he was brave in defense of principle, yet gentle and forbearing in his judgment of his fellow men, who were thus prompted to admiration, respect and friendship.
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