USA > Michigan > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph County, Michigan; Volume II > Part 2
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
Pourles, Hellig
465
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
locality in which it is published and receives their loyal support. The mechanical equipment is of modern order, giving ample facili- ties for the execution of the best class of job work, for the high grade of which the establishment enjoys a wide reputation.
In politics Mr. Dudley has always been a Republican. Both he and his wife hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, and the latter has been a teacher in the Sunday school for a considerable period of time, besides taking active interest in other departments of church work. Mr. Dudley is held in high esteem as one of the progressive business men and loyal citizens of White Pigeon, and thus it is pleasing to accord this brief review of his career.
On the 2nd of December, 1892, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Dudley to Miss Ada B. Bishop, and to them have been born three children, concerning whom the following specific mention is made: Verna H., who was afforded the advantages of the Michi- gan State Normal School at Ypsilanti, has been a successful teacher in the public schools of the state; Lynn Bishop, the second, re- ceived a high school education and is now employed as advertising manager of the Hillsdale Daily Standard Herald; Dorothy is a member of the class of 1914 in the White Pigeon high school.
Mrs. Dudley was born at Allen, Michigan, and is a daughter of Horace L. and Emeline (Allison) Bishop, the former of whom was born in Genessee county, New York, and the latter in Hope- well, Ontario county, New York. Her father was a farmer and contractor, and was an uncompromising advocate of the princi- ples of the Republican party. He died at Allen, Michigan, in 1893. Mrs. Dudley's grandfather, Isaac Bishop, was a valiant soldier of the Continental line in the war of the Revolution, in which he served under General Washington at Monmouth and Valley Forge, and was present at the surrender of Burgoyne at Ticonderoga. Her maternal grandfather, Joseph Allison, was a soldier in the war of 1812.
HON. CHARLES B. KELLOGG .- In the annals of Florence town- ship, St. Joseph county, Michigan, we find personages who figure largely in the history of the county, both in the past and present. The following sketch is a brief review of the life of Charles B. Kel- logg, one of the most widely known citizens of St. Joseph county. is a native son of the Wolverine state, born in White Pigeon, Febru- ary 6, 1840, and is the eldest of four children, all sons, born to Charles and Jane (Burnett) Kellogg, but only two are now living:
466
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
Charles B. and his brother, Norman B. The latter, who is a resident of San Francisco, California, graduated at the Detroit Polytechnic School of Civil Engineering, which profession he now pursues. The father of Hon. Charles B. Kellogg was a native of the Berk- shire Hills, in Massachusetts, and was born May 28, 1810. He was there reared and educated, though he was what is termed a self- made man. He emigrated to Michigan in a very early day, coming to White Pigeon when this country was almost a wilderness, and the Pottawattamie Indians were the principal inhabitants in this region. He erected the first store building in White Pigeon, and of the colonial style of architecture with heavy colonnades in the front entrance. He followed the pursuit of a general merchant for seventeen years in this town. He was a man of great ingenuity and very methodical in his habits. He built with his own hands the first church organ ever in St. Joseph county and his son now has the instrument in his home. The keys are made of horse ribs, and the pipes are made of cedar which he selected from the banks of Pigeon river. This instrument was made in 1840 and is in a good state of preservation. When Mr. Kellogg came to Michigan in 1830, the red men of the forest were plentiful and wild animals abounded. There was not a railroad in the state, telephones and telegraphs were not even dreamed of. He was an enlisted soldier in the Black Hawk War of 1832 but never was sent to the front, as hostilities with the Indians were quelled. Besides being a merchant for many years, he erected the first sugar beet plant in the United States and the building stood on the pres- ent site of the paper mill in White Pigeon. His methodical habits were portrayed in the beautiful copper plate penman- ship in his bookkeeping, his ledger and cash books are now shown with pride by his son. He could execute engraving upon silver, which was very artistic. Religiously Mr. Kellogg clung to the belief of his Scotch progenitors, the Presbyterian. He was a gentleman well known for his strict business principles and in- tegrity. Politically he was an advocate of the Whig policies, and very ardent in his belief. He died April 12, 1847, and was interred in White Pigeon Cemetery. His wife was a native of Yorkshire, England, born May 15, 1817, and she died February 5, 1892. She received a common school education and was a devout member of the Presbyterian church. She was a faithful wife, a loving mother and a friend to the poor and needy.
Charles B. Kellogg of this sketch was educated in the common schools. He early began to hew out his own way in life, and for
467
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
twenty-five years he acted in the capacity of a mercantile sales- man in the towns of White Pigeon, Mishawaka, Middlebury and Constantine. He well remembers when he was a boy of the pri- meval conditions of St. Joseph county, Indians were plentiful and ofttimes he has seen a herd of deer and has seen wolves and bears. White Pigeon was the principal stage depot on the Chicago road, which was once an Indian trail. There were no fences, no laid out highways, only an Indian trail. During the cold severe win- ters he tells of the suffering and death of some of the stage drivers.
December 3, 1868, Mr. Kellogg married Miss Anna Dickinson, and one son has graced this union, Charles Marmaduke. "Duke," as he is known by his friends, was reared as a farmer's lad and ed- ucated in the Constantine public schools. He spent three years of his life as a salesman in Constantine. He wedded Miss Mary Ketcham and two children were born to them: Gladys J. and Robert N., both in school at present. The mother of these chil- dren died February 1, 1902, and Duke chose for his second wife Miss Meda B. Christian, being married December 2, 1903. He is a Democrat and cast his first presidential vote for Grover Cleve- land. He resides with his father on the homestead. The mother of Duke Kellogg was born in St. Joseph county on White Pigeon Prairie, October 14, 1840, and educated in common schools. She was of English parentage and was one of six children, three sons and three daughters, born to George, and Sarah (Johnson) Dick- inson. None of the family are living, Mrs. Kellogg having died February 28, 1903. She was a loving wife and mother and an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church at White Pigeon and was also a worker in Home and Foreign Missions. Mr. Dickinson, her father, came to America when a young man and located at White Pigeon and was one of the early stage drivers.
Politically Hon. Chas. Kellogg in his former years was an advocate of the Republican doctrines. The first presidential vote he cast was for Lincoln. He recalls to mind the great Lincoln cam- paign at White Pigeon and drove four white horses to one of the floats in the parade. When the Populistic idea was spread before the people with its convincing arguments, he embraced that faith and with that party and the Democratic party he has cast his lot. In 1893 Mr. Kellogg was elected on the Fusion ticket as representa- tive of St. Joseph county in the state legislature by one of the largest majorities.
The St. Joseph County Pioneer Society was organized in 1873 and he was one of the charter members, and at present is secretary
.
468
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
and treasurer of this society and has been for ten years. He is a great friend of the public school system and especially of prac- tical education. His religious faith is that of his Scottish progeni- tors-the Presbyterian. He is the owner of a beautiful estate of 200 acres of land on White Pigeon Prairie, lying three and one-half miles from White Pigeon and two and one-quarter miles from Con- stantine. He is a gentleman who has passed almost three-fourths of a century as a resident of St. Joseph county, a gentleman of strict integrity of character and whose aspirations have always been for the elevation of his town, county and state.
CHRISTIAN WILHELM is now serving as the mayor of Sturgis, the highest office within the power of his fellow townsmen to bestow, and he is also connected with the city's business interests as one of the proprietors of one of its leading manufactories. He is a native son of the fatherland of Germany, born on the 9th of January, 1860, to the marriage union of Peter and Eliza (Ihrig) Wilhelm. The father was a school teacher, and followed that profession for forty- two years. The son Christian continued his studies until his fif- teenth year, receiving in the meantime a good German education, and at that age he began learning the cabinetmaker's trade, also attending night school. He served an apprenticeship of two and a half years as a cabinetmaker, and then became a journeyman. In the fall of 1881 he left Germany for the United States, and making his way to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where he arrived a poor boy, he found employment within a few days and remained there until 1890. It was in that year that he came to Sturgis, Michigan, as the superintendent of the Grobhiser and Crosby Company, becom- ing a stockholder of the corporation after the first year, and he remained there for seventeen years or until he organized the Steb- bins-Wilhelm Furniture Company, manufacturers of office and parlor tables, as well as special articles. This corporation suc- ceeded the Stebbins Manufacturing Company, and it is now one of the well known and substantial institutions of St. Joseph county.
Mr. Wilhelm married in 1887 Anna B. Irick, born in Pennsyl- vania, and they have had two sons and a daughter: Robert, born in 1888 and now a student in the Lansing Agricultural College; Gladys, born in 1899; and George, who was born in 1890, and died in 1897. Mr. Wilhelm is a member of Meridian Sun Lodge No. 49, and is now a thirty-second degree Mason.
MRS. DELIA S. CROSSETTE .- Within the pages of this historical publication there is much that touches upon the lives and deeds of
Leuco . Confetti
Ans Dilia, I Gocassette
RESIDENCE OF MRS. DELIA S. CROSSETTE CONSTANTINE MICHIGAN
475
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
the noble and gracious women who have contributed their quota to the social and material development and progress of St. Joseph county, and these records, whether incidental or individual, con- stitute a most important part of the annals of the county from the time of its formation to the present. In the connection it is a matter of special gratification to be able to present a review of the life history of Mrs. Delia S. Crossette and that of her husband. She is a resident of the attractive village of Constantine, which town figures as the place of her nativity, and is a representative of one of the old and honored pioneer families of the county. Further interest attaches to the record here offered by reason of the fact that Mrs. Crossette has proved a valued factor in connec- tion with the business, social and religious activities of her native village, where she holds a secure place in the confidence and re- gard of all who know her.
Mrs. Delia S. (Harvey) Crossette was born in Constantine, on the 3d of May, 1835, when Michigan was a territory, and is a daughter of Norman and Rhoda (Moore) Harvey, both of whom were born at Rupert, Bennington county, Vermont, where they were reared and educated and where their marriage was solem- nized. Both families were founded in New England in the colonial epoch of our national history and both are of stanch English line- age. The parents of Mrs. Crossette were numbered among the many sterling citizens of New England, who contributed so gener- ously to the development of and upbuilding of southern Michigan. which section from the beginning of its settlement drew largely upon New England and New York for the citizenship that has made it one of the most opulent and attractive social and industrial portions of the middle west. In 1833 Norman Harvey and his young wife severed the ties that bound them to their old home and set forth to establish a new home in the comparative wilds of St. Joseph county, Michigan. Both by training and intrinsic strength of character they were well fortified for the tension of pioneer life, and-upon coming to St. Joseph county Mr. Harvey secured a tract of land and established his primitive home on Broad street in the town of Constantine, locating on the land which he pur- chased from an uncle who had bought it from the government in that early day, the price being $1.25 per acre. Mr. Harvey be- came the owner of four hundred acres of land and from the forest wilds he developed a productive farm. He was a man of strong character and of insuperable integrity, and he was an influential figure in the early history of the county. Here and in the village Vol. II-2
476
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
of Constantine he continued to maintain his home until his death, which occurred on the 17th of April, 1866, and his cherished and devoted wife was summoned to the life eternal on the 5th of March, 1863. He was a Whig in his political allegiance and both he and his wife held membership in the Congregational church of Rupert, Vermont, he as an adherent, and his wife a member in the Dutch Reformed church of Constantine. Of their twelve children Mrs. Crossette was the fourth in order of birth, and of the number only three are now living.
Mrs. Delia S. Crossette was reared to maturity in Constantine, to whose pioneer schools she is indebted for her early educational training, which was supplemented by one year of study in Albion College, at Albion, this state. In 1853, she was united in marriage to Millard F. Thayer, who was born in Bennington, Vermont, and who was named in honor of his mother's cousin, Millard Fillmore, at one time president of the United States. Mr. Thayer's death occurred in 1854 and the one child born of this union, Simeon Harvey Thayer, born March 9, 1854, died August 27, 1854. On the 13th of November, 1856, Mrs. Thayer was united in marriage to George I. Crossette, concerning whom more specific mention is made in the following paragraphs.
George I. Crossette, of Puritan ancestry, was born in Benning- ton, Vermont, on the 5th of January, 1823, and was a son of Isaac and Samantha (Pratt) Crossette, the former of whom was a native of historic old Salem, Massachusetts, and the latter was born at Bennington, Vermont. Isaac Crossette was a cabinetmaker by trade and he was also an inventor of no slight ability. His most useful invention was a stave cutter, for which he received a medal from Cooper Institute, in New York City. George I. Crossette was reared to maturity in Bennington, and his initial business ex- perience was there gained as a workman in his father's shop. There he continued to maintain his home until 1856, when he came to the west and located in Joliet, Illinois, where for the ensuing four and one-half years he was engaged in the manufacturing of barrel staves and heading for the wholesale trade. From Joliet he removed to New Buffalo, Michigan, where he established a factory of similar order and where he also engaged in the general merchandise business. After maintaining his residence in New Buffalo for two and one-half years Mr. Crossette removed to Con- stantine, with whose more important business and civic interests he was thereafter identified until the time of his death. In 1864 he became one of the organizers and incorporators of the First
477
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
National Bank of Constantine, and in 1869 he was chosen president of this old and substantial institution,-an office of which he con- tinued incumbent for twenty consecutive years. In June, 1894, after the expiration of its charter, this bank was re-organized as the First State Bank of Constantine, and of the same Mr. Cros- sette was president from the beginning until he was summoned from the scene of life's mortal endeavors. His liberality and public spirit were potent in the promotion of the industrial and civic upbuilding of Constantine and for many years he held prestige as one of its leading business men and most influential citizens. He was stockholder and executive officer in various in- dustrial and commercial corporations and his capitalistic interests were of wide and varied order. He was loyal to all the duties of citizenship, maintained high civic ideals and was active in public affairs of a local order. Though never ambitious for official pre- ferment, he served one term as president of the village corporation and gave his services in other positions of trust to which he was called through popular demand. He was a valued member of the board of education for the long period of twenty-one years and ever did all in his power to further every project and enterprise tending to advance the general welfare of the community. He was affiliated with the blue lodge, chapter and commandery bodies of the Masonic fraternity, and was also zealous and devoted in con- nection with religious work. For many years he was an earnest adherent of the Presbyterian church in Constantine, and after its consolidation with the First Congregational church he became a member and earnest and liberal supporter of the latter. He was a man of generous impulses and was ever ready to contribute of influence and means to worthy charities and benevolences, though he brought to bear in such connection his fine judgment and discrimination and never made compromises with his convic- tions for the purpose of gaining popular plaudits. He was a man of more than ordinary intellectual strength, and though he at- tended school very little after he had attained to the age of twelve years, he had splendid powers of reception and retention, and through his wide and varied reading and his wide association with men and affairs he broadened his mental ken and became a man of extensive and exact information, and of marked culture and refinement. His success was large in connection with the practical affairs of life, and the same was the direct result of his own in- dustry and well directed efforts. He was a veritable optimist, was genial and kindly in his intercourse with all sorts and conditions
478
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
of men, and in the midst of the cares and exactions of a long and busy life he never lost his high ideals or his generous tolerance and sympathy. His interests centered in his home and within its sacred precincts he found his greatest happiness, as its relations were ever of idyllic order. He was a musician of no inconsiderable talent and found great pleasure in all kinds of musical interpre- tations. As a youth he became leader of a band that gained no little reputation in the vicinity of his boyhood home in Vermont, and for nearly fifty years he was found enrolled as a member of a church choir, his love for music having never waned. His po- litical allegiance was given to the Republican party and he was well fortified in his opinions as to matters of public polity. Both Mr. and Mrs. Crossette attended the convention and had seats in the wigwam in Chicago, when Abraham Lincoln was nominated president of the United States in 1860, and they have heard Mr. Lincoln speak. Mr. Crossette was twice married. At Berlin, New York, on the 13th of October, 1851, he wedded Miss Minerva A. Hull, who died four months later. Of his second marriage record has already been made in this context. Mr. and Mrs. Crossette had no children of their own, but out of the kindness of their hearts adopted two children, one of whom is now living,-Emma Cros- sette who is the wife of Levi A. Strohm in Constantine. This adopted daughter was first married to John J. Proudfit, who died in 1899, and they became the parents of three children, concern- ing whom the following brief record is but consistent, as Mrs. Crossette finds her claim upon their affections as secure as her in- terest in them. George A. Proudfit was graduated in the Detroit University School of Detroit, Michigan, and is now a bookkeeper in the employ of the Schwarzschild & Sulzberger Packing Company in the city of Chicago; Mary J., who was educated in the public schools and The Young Ladies' School at Winona, Indiana, having been a student in the art and domestic science departments, now remains at the parental home; Delia Crossette Proudfit, the second of the children is a student in the high school in Constantine. Mr. and Mrs. Strohm have one son, Edward H., who is now attending the public schools. Mrs. Strohm is a lady of more than usual business capacity and very domestic in her tastes. She is original, is well educated, having also a good musical education. She is refined and admires the beautiful and the best. A lady of great charity, she is always caring for those less fortunate than herself, and she has ever been a loyal and devoted daughter.
479
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
Mr. Crossette passed away on the 17th of December, 1894, secured in the high regard of all who knew him and leaving the gracious heritage of worthy thoughts and worthy deeds.
One year after the death of her honored husband, Mrs. Cros- sette became president of the First State Bank, and she retained this office for five years, at the expiration of which she declined re- election, though she is still a member of the directorate of the in- stitution, as was she also of the First National Bank for a period of thirteen years. She has had wide and intimate business dis- cipline and has shown mature judgment and ability in the hand- ling of business affairs of large importance. She has interests in the city of Chicago as well as in Constantine, and has ably managed her portion of the large estate left by her husband. She is a woman of excellent education and of distinctive culture, while her gentle and gracious attributes of character have drawn to her the affectionate regard of those who have come within the sphere of her influences. Her views have been broadened by extensive travel and she is cosmopolitan in her ideas and tastes, though her inter- ests and affections still center in her native town and county in whose history she is well versed and in whose welfare she main- tains an abiding interest.
In the year 1899 Mrs. Crossette made a tour of Europe and during the same she visited the principal cities and points of in- terest in Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain, England, and Scotland. She has visited the cities of the provinces of Canada, down the St. Lawrence river. She has visited every state in the Union except five and every territory except Alaska and Hawaii. She is a close observer and has made the best use of the fine opportunities afforded her in her travels. During her European tour she took copious notes and after her return to her home she compiled the same into an interesting and instructive paper, which she presented by request before the public schools of Constantine and before the Constantine Woman's Club, with which she is actively identified. Her travels in Mexico, in 1902, also proved a source of great interest and gratification to her and on this trip she visited the Grand Canyon of Arizona. Her tour of the wonderful Yellowstone National Park was also of great pleas- ure and interest to her. She is an excellent raconteur and her descriptions and reminiscences concerning her extended travels are ever graphic and interesting.
Mrs. Crossette traces her ancestral history back to the early colonial epoch in New England. Zachariah Harwood, the father
480
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
of her paternal grandmother, Mrs. Parmelia (Harwood) Harvey, was one of the patriot soldiers of the Revolution whose company was organized in the town of Bennington, Vermont, October 24, 1764, and which took part in the memorable battle of Bennington, Vermont, under command of General Stark, who on that occasion delivered the memorable words "We will whip the Britishers to- night or Molly Stark will be a widow." Mrs. Crossette has found much pleasure in genealogical research in both her paternal and maternal lines, and through the service of her ancestors in the Revolution she is eligible for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution and also the Colonial Dames. She is a most zealous worker in the First Congregational church of Constantine, of which she is a member and gives liberally to the support of its various collateral benevolences, being identified with both the home and foreign missionary societies of the generic church organ- ization. She was president of the Ladies' Aid Society of the Congregational church for five years ; since then she has been treas- urer holding this position for over sixteen years. She is also treas- urer of the Home and Foreign Missionary Societies of the church, which position she has held for twenty consecutive years and is still serving in both societies. Her beautiful and stately home, one of the most attractive in Constantine, was erected by Mr. Crossette, in 1870, and it has ever been a center of most gracious and cordial hospitality. Since her girlhood days Mrs. Crossette has witnessed the wonderful and remarkable progress and develop- ment of the United States. She has seen the great railroad sys- tems stretched across the continent like a net work. The in- vention and introduction of the telephone and telegraph, of natural and manufactured gas, of gasoline, matches, sewing machines, and the clothing which used to be made by hand in the homes now man- ufactured in the factories. She has watched the advent of elec- tricity into the homes, her own beautiful home being thus lighted and all the cooking being done by manufactured gas.
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.