USA > Michigan > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph County, Michigan; Volume II > Part 22
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
On the 20th of August, 1880, Mr. Grimes was married to Christine Kline, a native daughter of Indiana, and their eight children are: Alta, born December 17, 1881, and now the wife of Herman Schmidt; Edna, born June 17, 1884, and the wife of Frank Blair; Della, born December 25, 1886; Opal, born June 15, 1893; Leona, born April 21, 1895; Florence, born December 6, 1896; Trillie, born November 29, 1897; and Elizabeth, born Oc- tober 6, 1903. Opal and Leona are students in the White Pigeon High School. The family are members of the Methodist Episco- pal church at Klinger Lake, and Mr. Grimes is serving as one of the stewards of his church. In politics his affiliations are with the Democratic party.
LEWIS C. PERRIN was born at Conesus, New York, Septem- ber 2, 1841, and he was reared as a farmer's son there. When he was a boy of fourteen he came with his parents to Michigan, the family locating in what afterward became the station of Perrin, named in honor of his father, and they were early residents of this community. There the son Lewis attained to years of maturity, and in 1858 he was married to Frances Van Vleck, and these children have blessed their marriage union: William who died at the age of two and one half years; Alta, the wife of William T. Favorite; Lewis, whose home is in Chicago, Illinois; and Pearl, at home with her parents.
-
721
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
Mr. Perrin was a traveling salesman for agricultural imple- ments until 1892, and in 1904 he came to White Pigeon and be- came interested in buying grain. He now owns fifty acres of valu- able land at the corporation limits of White Pigeon, where he has erected a good home, and there resides with his family. In politics he is a Republican voter.
RICHARD H. FRANK has been identified with the business in- terests of White Pigeon township during many years, but he is a native son of Indiana, born on the 16th of December, 1862, to Henry and Caroline (Schneider) Frank, both of whom were born in Germany, and they were also married there. Emigrating to the United States about the year of 1848, they established their home in White Pigeon, Michigan, but moved from there to La Grange county, Indiana. Henry Frank bought heavily wooded land there, which he in time cleared and improved, and on this farm which he hewed from the wilderness both he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives, Mr. Frank dying on the 2d of November, 1904, and his wife on the 1st of May, 1902. The three sons and a daughter born to them are: Richard H. of this sketch; Charles H., whose home is in Marshall county, Indiana; Alvin, a La Grange county farmer; Emma, wife of John R. Davey, of Constantine, this state.
Richard H. Frank was reared on his father's farm in his na- tive county of La Grange, assisting his father with its work dur- ing the summer months and attending the district school in the winters, and this was followed by a course in the White Pigeon High School. During the four years following his marriage he continued to reside in Indiana, and coming to White Pigeon town- ship, St. Joseph county, Michigan, in November, 1894, he bought a farm in section 5, and now owns thirty-eight acres. He has served White Pigeon township during the past seven years as a supervisor, being the present incumbent of the office, and he is prominent in the local councils of the Democratic party. He has also attained prominence as an auctioneer, and that vocation con- sumes the greater part of his time.
On the 12th of March, 1889, Mr. Frank was married to Ida E. Schmidt, also from La Grange county, Indiana, and they have two children : Orlie and Mary, the elder born April 12, 1893, and now a high school pupil at White Pigeon, and the younger was born March 17, 1905. The family are members of the Lutheran church.
Vol. II-14
....
722
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
MARDEN SABIN, M. D .- For nearly half a century Dr. Sabin has been engaged in the practice of his profession in St. Joseph county, maintaining his home in Centerville, the county seat, and the years have told a story of a successful career-successful by reason of his innate talent and acquired ability along the line of one of the most important vocations, to which a man may devote his energies, the alleviation of pain and suffering and the restora- tion of health, which is a man's most cherished and priceless pos- session. This is an age of progress in all lines of professional and material achievement and Dr. Sabin has kept abreast of the ad- vancement that has virtually revolutionized methods of medical and surgical practice, rendering the efforts of the physician of much more avail than they were at the time when he himself en- tered upon his professional career. Not only is Dr. Sabin num- bered among the best known and essentially representative physi- cians and surgeons of St. Joseph county, but he has also been called upon to serve in public offices of distinguished trust, in- cluding that of member of the state senate and it was his to ren- der valiant service as a leal and loyal soldier of the Union in the Civil war, so that there is no dearth of interesting data pertaining to his career.
Descended in the paternal line from stanch French-Huguenot stock and in the maternal line tracing his ancestry to English origin, Dr. Sabin claims the old Hoosier state as the place of his nativity. He was born at Orland, Steuben county, Indiana, on the 2d of January, 1840, and was the eldest in the family of five chil- dren-four sons and one daughter-of Stephen C. and Martha M. (Stocker) Sabin. Of the children only one other than himself is now living-namely: Oscar C., who is a resident of the city of Chicago and who is identified with the United States Collector of Customs Office. Oscar C. Sabin served as a soldier in the Twenty- ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in the Civil war and held the of- fice of quartermaster, continuing in the service for more than three years. He is a stanch Republican in his political proclivities and both he and his wife are members of the Baptist church. Stephen Choate Sabin, father of the doctor, was born at Jamaica, Wind- ham county, Vermont, in the year 1812, and his death occurred in 1894. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade but in later years he turned his attention also to agricultural pursuits. He was reared to maturity in the old Green Mountain state and was a man of broad intellectual ken and sterling integrity of charac- ter. He finally came to the west and located in Steuben county,
Marchen Sabine MA
.
725
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
Indiana, where he purchased a tract of land near the present loca- tion of the village of Orland. In business he was successful and he was one of the honored and influential pioneers of that section of the state where his marriage was solemnized. At the time of the memorable gold excitement in California he made the long and venturesome trip across the plains to the new Eldorado, where he remained about two years, at the expiration of which time he re- turned to the east by the way of the Isthmus of Panama. Mr. Sabin was originally a Whig in his political adherency and he supported General William Henry Harrison for the presidency, having been active in the campaign, which brought forth the cry, "Tippecanoe and Tyler too." He united with the Republican party at the time of its organization and he was very influential in party affairs of a local nature, while his maturity of judgment caused his advice to be sought by his neighbors in matters of per- sonal importance. About the year 1863 he was elected to repre- sent his county in the state legislature of Indiana, in which he served several terms, being prominent in councils of the legislative body and having been selected as one of the representatives of Indiana in escorting the remains of the martyred president Abra- ham Lincoln from the national capital to Springfield, Illinois, where interment was made. He took a broad-minded interest in all that touched the general welfare of the community and was influential in religious and moral work, as well as in connection with the promotion of the public schools. He was an appreciative member of the Masonic fraternity and both he and his wife were earnest and zealous members of the Baptist church. When they were well advanced in years they removed to Centerville, Michi- gan, where they passed the residue of their lives in the home of their son, Dr. Sabin, subject of this review, who accorded to them the utmost filial solicitude. They were laid to rest in the Center- ville cemetery. The mother of Dr. Sabin was likewise a native of Jamaica, Vermont, where she was born in the year 1819 and she died in 1894, only a few weeks previously to the death of her hon- ored husband. She endured the vicissitudes of pioneer life in Steuben county, Indiana, and was a woman of most gracious and sympathetic nature with intense interest in religious affairs, her faith having been shown in her daily life. Her mother, whose maiden name was Betsey Howard, was a relative of the mother of President Taft. Her father was numbered among the pioneers of Steuben county, Indiana, where he became a successful agri- culturist. Ebenezer Sabin, grandfather of the doctor, was a sol-
726
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
dier in the war of the Revolution and was wounded in one of the battles thereof. While he was lying practically helpless on the field General Washington passed by and solicitously questioned him in regard to his injuries. By reason of this service of his grandfather, Dr. Sabin is eligible for membership in the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
Dr. Marden Sabin was reared to adult age in his native county of Steuben, to whose common schools he is indebted for his early educational discipline, which was supplemented by study in a well ordered academy at Orland, that county. In the year 1859, when nineteen years of age, he was matriculated in the literary de- partment of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, where he continued his studies for three years. After the Civil war had been in progress about a year Dr. Sabin subordinated all other interests to tender his aid in defence of the Union. He returned to his native state and at Orland enlisted in Company B, One Hun- dredth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, which at that time was being raised by Capt. Joseph W. Gillespie. His enlistment was made on the 15th of August, 1862, and the regiment was mobilized at Fort Wayne, Indiana, whence it proceeded to Indianapolis and then to the front, being assigned to the command of General Sherman, at Memphis, Tennessee. Dr. Sabin was an active participant in the siege of Vicksburg and the battle of Jackson, Mississippi, and he then proceeded with his command to join General Grant's force, with which he participated in the battle of Chattanooga and Look- out Mountain. He also took part in the Atlanta campaign, in- cluding the battles of Resaca, Kenesaw Mountain and those about Atlanta and in this connection his regiment was virtually under fire for one hundred consecutive days, or until the capitulation of the city of Atlanta. The doctor then proceeded with Sherman's forces to the pursuit of Hood's army to Tennessee and then on the ever memorable march from Atlanta to the sea and from Savan- nah, Georgia, proceeded with his command through the Carolinas, taking part in the battle of Bentonville, North Carolina, which was the last definite battle of the war. He had the distinction of accompanying his command to the city of Washington, where he participated in the Grand Review of the victorious but jaded and battle-scarred veterans, an event that has become a matter of important history in the annals of the nation. On the march from Savannah, Georgia, to the north Dr. Sabin held rank as first lieutenant and acting adjutant in his command and his regiment was near Raleigh, North Carolina, when was received the welcome
727
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
news of the surrender of General Lee, of which as adjutant he read in orders to his regiment there in bivouac. About five days later the gallant soldiers of the Union found their joy practically set at naught by the receipt of the news of the assassination of President Lincoln. In all of Dr. Sabin's long service as a leal and loyal soldier of the republic he was never wounded, never taken prisoner and never absent from duty, except a short time in hos- pital from sickness, a record that redounds to his lasting credit. He was in continuous service from August 15, 1862, until he was mustered out and received his honorable discharge, in June, 1865, having been promoted from sergeant to sergeant major of regi- ment, and to first lieutenant and to captain of his company which he took to Indianapolis where it was mustered out and disbanded in June, 1865.
Soon after the close of the war Dr. Sabin determined to com- plete his preparation for the medical profession and with this in view he came to Centerville, Michigan, where he began the study of medicine under the able preceptorship of Dr. John Bennitt. Six months later, however, he again entered the University of Michigan, in the autumn of 1865, and from that institution the next year he went to Ohio and entered the medical department of the Western Reserve University, which was located at Cleveland, Ohio. He received credit for his previous academic training in the University of Michigan and was graduated in the medical de- partment of Western Reserve University as a member of the class of 1867, duly receiving his well earned degree of Doctor of Medi- cine. In May of the same year Dr. Sabin returned to Centerville and during the long intervening period of more than two score years he has continued in the active practice of medicine and sur- gery in St. Joseph county, where his success has been on a parity with his recognized ability and earnest devotion. He has minis- tered with all of zeal to the people of this county and has long retained a large and representative clientage so that his services continue to be in demand in many families where he is giving at- tention to the second and third generations. He has a strong hold upon the affectionate regard of the community, which has so long been his home and no citizen is better known or held in higher es- teem.
Dr. Sabin gives his allegiance to the cause of the Republican party and he had the privilege of casting his ballot in support of President Lincoln, while he was serving in the ranks of the Union army. He has shown a broad and intelligent interest in matters
728
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
of public import and in 1890 he was elected to represent the Eighth senatorial district in the state senate. In 1892 he was re- elected but the district had been changed in the meantime and he was thus chosen to represent the Sixth district. The doctor has served for fully twenty years as president of the board of educa- tion of Centerville and for several terms was president of the village board of trustees. He has frequently been a delegate to the state and district conventions of his party and for a number of years was a member of the Republican congressional committee of his district. He is an enthusiastic member of David Oaks Post, No. 135, Grand Army of the Republic, of which he has served both as commander and as surgeon. He is a member of the St. Joseph County Medical Society and of the Michigan State Medical So- ciety, of which former he has served several terms as president. The doctor has been a close student and investigator and his pri- vate library is of the most extensive order, both in connection with the best standard and periodical literature of his profession and the best in the classics and general literature. His library com- prises fully two thousand volumes and is one of the largest and most select private collections in the county. Dr. Sabin is a dig- nified gentleman of the old-school type and yet is possessed of an affability that has gained him friends in all classes. His personal popularity offers the best voucher of his sterling attributes of character and it is a pleasure to offer even this brief review of his career in this history of the county that has been the scene of his labors for so many years. Both he and his wife are members of the Baptist church.
On the 23d of May, 1867, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Sabin to Miss Mary M. Smith, and they became the parents of two children. Edna B., the elder of the two children, is the wife of H. Curtis Hoffman, who is an architect by profession and who re- sides at Oak Park, Illinois, one of the beautiful suburbs of the city of Chicago. Mr. and Mrs. Hoffman have one son, Howard B. Mrs. Hoffman completed the curriculum of the Centerville high school and later continued her studies in the Baptist College at Kalamazoo and the Cook County Normal School, in the city of Chi- cago. Prior to her marriage she was a successful and popular teacher in the public schools at Chicago Heights. Leland Howard, the younger of the two children, is engaged in the practice of law in the city of Battle Creek, Michigan. He attended the Center- ville high school and thereafter pursued his studies in both the academic and law departments of the University of Michigan,
729
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
in both of which he was graduated, thus receiving the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws. He married Miss Eloise Skinner of Battle Creek, Michigan, and they have one son, Brain- ard S. The wife of Dr. Sabin was born in Leroy, New York, but was reared and educated in Michigan. She is a daughter of Per- rin M. and Harriet T. (Bishop) Judd Smith. Her father likewise was a native of the old Empire state and he became one of the representative members of the bar of Michigan, where he also served as circuit judge of the Fourth Judicial circuit, an office of which he was incumbent at the time of his death February 12, 1866.
At the commencement exercises of Michigan University on the 30th of June, 1910, there was given to Dr. Sabin the Honorary De- gree of Master of Arts as the following record, under the head of conferring that degree fully sets forth :
"Doctor Marden Sabin for three years a member of the Class of 1863 in the Department of Literature, Science and the Arts, he left the university to serve his country in her hour of peril, a brave soldier, a painstaking and conscientious physician and a public- spirited and progressive citizen, who during his terms as state senator exemplified high ideals in public service the degree of Master of Arts."
STEPHEN M. SNYDER .- Holding a place of note among the well-known citizens and prosperous residents of Fabius township is Stephen M. Snyder, a successful agriculturist, distinguished not only for the splendid service he rendered his country during the Civil war, but for the honored pioneer ancestry from which he is descended. His birth occurred May 18, 1843, in Lockport town- ship, St. Joseph county, where his father, Henry Snyder, was an early settler.
Born in Union county, Pennsylvania, Henry Snyder was brought up on a farm, and as a young man served an apprentice- ship at the mason's trade, which he afterwards followed for a time in Snyder county, Pennsylvania. In 1837, about the time Michigan was admitted to statehood, he came here in search of cheap lands, and settled as a pioneer in Park township, St. Joseph county. At that time there were no railways, telegraph lines or telephones, means of transportation and communication with the outside world being scant. Little do the people of this generation realize the hardships and privations endured, the great ambition required, and the physical vigor demanded, to secure the homes established by the early settlers for themselves and their descendants. What
730
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
are now considered indispensable necessities of the larder were then luxuries not thought of even by the most opulent. The pro- ductions of the farm, and the fruits of the chase, supplied the family tables, while the garments of the entire household were made of homespun material, and manufactured by the good wife and mother. After a few years, Henry Snyder sold his land in Park township, and bought another tract in Lockport township, where he began the improvement of a homestead. Going by way of the Isthmus to California in 1854, he remained there three years, and on returning to his former home, assumed management of the farm which his wife had inherited, and was here engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death, at the age of sixty-eight years.
Mr. Henry Snyder was twice married. He married first Sarah Slote, a native of Pennsylvania. She died in 1841, leaving four children, James, Mary J., Hannah M., and William. He married second, in 1842, Mrs. Lydia (Moore) Hoffman, who was born in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, a daughter of Abner Moore. Migrating from Pennsylvania to Michigan, Abner Moore became a pioneer of St. Joseph county, locating in Mendon, where, in addition to farming, he followed his trade of a cabinet maker for several years, afterwards taking up the business of a cooper. He died at the age of eighty-six years, on his farm in Mendon. Lydia Moore married first John Hoffman, who came from Pennsyl- vania to St. Joseph county in pioneer days. He died in 1841. Of the five children born of their union, three grew to years of ma- turity, Mary J. Hoffman, Elizabeth H. Hoffman, and Harriet Hoff- man. By her second marriage she had four children, namely : Stephen M., the subject of this sketch; John H .; Catherine R .; and Charles F.
Brought up in his native township, Stephen M. Snyder was educated in the district schools, while under his father's instruc- tions he became familiar with the many branches of agriculture. In August, 1862, he enlisted in Company G, Twenty-fifth Michigan Infantry, and with his regiment took part in many important bat- tles, including among others, the engagements at Resaca, Dalton, Rocky Face, Etowah River, Kingston, Altoona, Pine Mountain, Lost Mountain, Culps Farm, Kenesaw Mountain, Chattahoochee River, Decatur, Atlanta, Rome, Georgia, Cedar Bluffs, and Nash- ville. At Salisbury, N. C., June 24, 1865, he received his honorable discharge with his regiment, and returned to the parental homestead.
731
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
He has since confined his attention to general farming, an occupa- tion in which he finds pleasure and much profit.
Mr. Snyder married Utica E. Stuck, in February, 1869. She was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of Jacob and Rebecca (Sny- der) Stuck. Her father settled in Flowerfield township, St. Joseph county, in 1860, and subsequently moved to Park township. In 1868 he made another removal, going to Indiana, and is now a resident of Hanna, that state. Mr. and Mrs. Snyder are the par- ents of two children, namely : Willis C. and Alvin J. Willis C., who manages the home farm, married Mary E. Krum, and they have one child, Frank W. Mr. and Mrs. Snyder are both valued mem- bers of the Reformed church, towards the support of which they contribute liberally. Socially Mr. Snyder belongs to the Ed. M. Prutzman Post, No. 72, G. A. R.
JOHN B. PROBST has made a remarkable record, and from the study of his life history one may learn valuable lessons, for de- pending upon his own resources he has made his way from ob- scurity to a place of prominence in the industrial life of St. Joseph county. From his little German home he made his way to this country and entered upon a career which seems most marvelous, but it is only the outcome of the honest reward of labor, good management, ambition and energy, without which no man can win prosperity.
Born in Frank-in-Furst, Germany, June 19, 1829, he was reared on a farm there and attended the public schools until the age of fourteen, being also compelled to attend Sunday-school, and until eighteen years of age he lived out and worked at farm labor. He married in his early life Anna Bower, born in that country October 16, 1831, and coming to the United States, they arrived in Toledo, Ohio, on the 1st of June, 1854, after sixty days spent on the ocean on a sail boat. They remained in that city about a year, Mr. Probst working as a wood sawyer, and from there made their way to Goshen, Indiana, and thence to White Pigeon, Michigan, in 1856, where he obtained work in the harvest fields. He then worked at railroad building at Sturgis, this state, for about a year, was then employed in the railroad yards at Toledo, Ohio, and all this time he worked hard and saved his earnings and was finally able to buy eighty acres of land in St. Joseph county. But he has added to this purchase until he now owns three hundred and twenty-seven acres of the choicest farm- ing lands of the county. During the first years of his residence in
732
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
this state he was employed on the railroad then being built here, and after the completion of the road he was retained as a section hand and as a foreman. His life has been characterized by energy and perseverance, and step by step he has climbed the ladder of his own making, until he now occupies a place of prominence in the life of his community, highly esteemed by all who know him. In politics he is allied with the Democracy.
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.