USA > Michigan > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph County, Michigan; Volume II > Part 23
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The following children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Probst : Anna and Mary, twins; Margaret, John, Helena, Henry; Joseph, deceased; George, died October 23, 1909; Joseph and Rose. The family are members of the Catholic church at White Pigeon, Michigan. Mrs. Probst died February 10, 1910. She was always a kind mother and a faithful wife, and a devout member of St. Joseph Catholic church. She was interred in the Catholic ceme- tery at White Pigeon.
JAMES L. SMITH .- During many years James L. Smith was prominently identified with the agricultural interests of St. Joseph county, but he is now living retired on his estate in Mottville township. He is a native son of this township, born on his father's farm here on the 9th of May, 1853. He is a son of Samuel and a grandson of Daniel Smith, the latter moving from his native state of Pennsylvania to Iowa, where he lived during the remainder of his life. Samuel Smith became in his early life one of the farmers of Mottville township, St. Joseph county, and he was married here to Elizabeth Klechner, they spending the residue of their days here and dying on the farm now owned by James L. Smith.
James L. Smith was the only child born to Samuel and Eliza- beth Smith, and he grew to mature years on the farm where he now lives, beginning when old enough to help his father with its work during the summer months and attending the district schools in the winter. After laying aside his text-books he gave his entire attention to farm work, and he now owns two hundred and twelve acres in section 15, Mottville township, this tract having been in the Smith name for many years. But in recent years he has laid aside the active work of the farm, and is now enjoying a well earned rest. Mr. Smith remained at home with his parents until twenty-seven years of age, and was then married, on the 27th of October, 1880, to Emma Line, born in Pennsylvania, June 7, 1854, a daughter of Henry Line, who became a resident of Michigan in 1864, establishing then his home in White Pigeon township. A daughter, Ione, now the wife of William Friesner, has been born
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to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and she and her husband live with her father on the Smith farm, the parents of two children, James Harvey and Catherine E. Mr. Smith is a member of White Pigeon Lodge, No. 104, F. & A. M., and in politics he upholds the princi- ples of the Republican party, but is an independent local voter.
DAVID B. PERRY was born in Montour county, Pennsylvania, March 5, 1839, a son of David and Eva (Barkley) Perry. The father was born, reared, spent his entire life and died in that com- monwealth, and he was by trade a blacksmith. The Barkley family were also from Pennsylvania, and the maternal grandfather of David B. served as postmaster of his village there for many years. Of the eleven children which were born to David and Eva Perry, only two are now living, the younger being Wesley Perry, yet living in Pennsylvania.
The elder of these two surviving sons, David B. Perry, was reared to agricultural pursuits, and on arriving at a suitable age, he helped his father with the farm work and attended the district schools during the winter months. He began learning the harness- maker's trade when seventeen years of age, and after working for others for twenty years he embarked in the business for him- self. Coming to St. Joseph county, Michigan, in 1859, he located in the town of Mottville, and continued at his trade until the Civil war came on, and he volunteered with the Sixteenth Michigan Regiment and saw his first battle at Petersburg, afterward doing guard duty. He was mustered out of the service at Jeffersonville, Indiana, and was discharged at Detroit, Michigan, returning then to his home in Mottville and to the work of harness-making. He now receives a pension of fifteen dollars a month in compensation for his Civil war services.
Mr. Perry, on the 9th of November, 1862, was married to Cornelia Knorr, who was born in Mottville township, St. Joseph county, on December 21, 1842. Her father was from Pennsyl- vania and her mother from the state of New York. The four children of this union are: May, born June 7, 1864, and now the wife of George H. Arnold, of Three Rivers, Michigan; Maggie, deceased; Joseph, born October 29, 1873; and Jacob, born July 2, 1878. Mr. Perry in politics is a Republican, and he is the present clerk of Mottville township. He has held that office during many terms, and was first elected when the township had a Democratic majority of from thirty-five to forty votes. He is held in the highest esteem by all who know him.
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AMOS T. PERRIN, an honored and retired farmer of New Hart- ford, Butler county, stands in the community as one of its most substantial financiers, now holding the presidency of the local bank and the secretaryship of the Butler County Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company. His wide acquaintance, solid abilities and stanch character admirably fit him for these positions and any others of responsibility which he may assume. He comes of an old New York family, of English descent, and was himself born in the Empire state, on the 2d of December, 1843, a son of Amos, and a grandson of Porter Perrin. The latter emigrated to the United States from England, and was married in the United States, his son Amos having been born in Washington county, New York, on the 30th of March, 1810. The father reached man- hood as a sturdy farmer of the Empire state, well educated and also an expert judge and dealer in livestock. About 1852 he migrated to Michigan, locating on Sturgis prairie, St. Joseph county. At a later date he moved to Sherman township, section 12, where he continued to reside until his death. Amos Perrin was a man who was highly respected both for his practical abilities and his absolute integrity. The lake near his old homestead in St. Joseph county bears his name, and he has left a strong impress on the community in which he lived for so many years. He was a stanch Republican, and he was one of the many whose attitude to- ward Lincoln was little short of worship. To the wife of his youth, these four children were born: Thomas P., now a resident of Detroit, Michigan; Lewis C., of White Pigeon, also that state; Amos T., of this biography ; and Luna M., Mrs. M. E. Osborn, of New Hartford, Iowa. The mother of this family died in 1847, and Amos Perrin took for his second wife Miss Rachael Van Winkle, who bore him the following children: Lester F., now a farmer of Sherman township, St. Joseph county, Michigan; Eliza, deceased; Mary, wife of Charles Warren of Bancroft, Michigan; William, of Kalkaska county, that state; Edward N., of Sherman township, Michigan, and Fred E., who resides in Montana.
Amos T. was a lad of thirteen when the family settled in St. Joseph county, Michigan ; received his education in Sherman town- ship of that county, both in the district schools and on the farm; and in the year 1871 migrated to Butler county, a young man of limited means but of abundant energy and resources. As his unchecked progress in his agricultural and livestock enterprises brought him abundant means, his honorable dealings and character gave him a high standing in citizenship, and when he retired from
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Servis E. Miller
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
his activities in these lines and settled at New Hartford, he entered another phase of his broad and useful life. He had been a stock- holder in the bank for some years and has since creditably served as its president (which position he still holds) ; and, as stated, he is also secretary of the Butler County Farmers' Mutual Fire In- surance Company, whose interests have been solidly advanced by his activity and influence. In politics, Mr. Perrin is a firm Repub- lican, but his naturally quiet disposition has prevented him from ever becoming a politician. His record has shown, however, that back of his rather retiring nature there is a goodly fund of de- termination and a fine supply of practical abilities.
Mr. Perrin was first married to Miss Harriet J. Proctor, of Iowa, a woman of high and lovable character, who bore him the following children : Susan, now the wife of Frank Jones; Mary, Mrs. Fred Johnson; and Fred Perrin, who married Miss Lizzie Schreurs. Mrs. Harriet Perrin died in 1884 and in 1888 Amos T. Perrin wedded Miss Maggie Olmstead, a lady of rare intelli- gence and womanly character. She was born, reared and educated in the Hawkeye state, and is the mother of the following: Willie, who was educated in his native county, and at his death was the efficient cashier of the New Hartford Bank; Edward F., who is a graduate of the Iowa Commercial School at Waterloo, Iowa; and Hazel and Theodore L., born respectively in 1893 and 1905. It should be stated to complete the personal record of Mr. Perrin that he is a stanch Mason, affiliated with Beaver Lodge No. 472, of New Hartford, and is in every respect a worthy exemplar of the princi- ples of that noble fraternity.
LEWIS E. MILLER .- He whose name initiates this sketch is specially eligible for representation in this publication, as he is a most valued and efficient factor in connection with educational work in St. Joseph county, where he is the incumbent of the office of county commissioner of public schools, with residence and official headquarters in Centerville. Further interest attaches to his career from the fact that he has passed the major part of his life in this county, where his official preferment well indicates the high esteem in which he is held in the community, besides which it gives evidence of his fine intelectual attainments and marked executive ability, both of which are demanded in the position of which he is incum- bent. He has accomplished a most valuable work in systematizing the public schools of the county and has brought the same up to a very high standard, the while he has enlisted the earnest and effect-
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ive co-operation of the people and of the various teachers employed throughout the county.
Lewis E. Miller was born in Northampton county, Pennsylva- nia, on the 19th of December, 1864, and is the second in order of birth of the four children of John J. and Margaret S. (Schall) Miller. Concerning the other children the following brief data are given,-Ambrose P. is now a resident of Garrett, Indiana, and is employed as a conductor on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad ; Richard N. is also in the employ of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad as a pas- senger conductor and resides in the city of Garrett, Indiana; and Jennie M. is the wife of Herbert Snyder, who is engaged in the fur- niture business at Easton, Pennsylvania. John J. Miller, the father, was likewise born in Northampton county, Pennsylvania, and he died in Lebanon county, that state, on the 31st of March, 1898. During the greater part of his active career he was identified with agricultural pursuits, besides which he operated a mill for sev- eral years. He came to Michigan on the 31st of March, 1879, and secured a tract of land in Park township, St. Joseph county, where he continued to be successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits for the ensuing nine years, at the expiration of which he returned to Pennsylvania and located in Lebanon county, where he passed the remainder of his life. He was a stanch Democrat in his politi- cal proclivities and while a resident of Park township, St. Joseph county, Michigan, he served as township treasurer. He was affil- iated with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and his religious faith was that of the Evangelical church. His cherished and devoted wife, who likewise was born in Northampton county, preceded him to the life eternal and she was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Miller was again married, his second wife being Cecelia Holland, to which union were born two daughters, Ada and Kate. They both have comfortable homes in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, where they provide for their mother in her latter years.
Lewis E. Miller gained his rudimentary education in the pub- lic schools of his native state and was a lad of fourteen years at the time of the family removal to St. Joseph county, Michigan. Owing to a physical infirmity it became expedient for Mr. Miller to turn his attention to some vocation not demanding heavy manual labor and his ambition was one of definite action and purpose, as is shown by the fact that he determined to secure a liberal education and prepare himself for the pedagogic profession. After attending the district schools in St. Joseph county for three years he entered the
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Three Rivers Business College, where he completed the prescribed course, in the meanwhile working for his board and also earning money to partially defray the expenses of his course. After teach- ing for four months in district No. 1, Park township, he received in compensation for his services the sum of ninety dollars and with this fortification he was matriculated in the Michgan State Normal School at Ypsilanti, which institution he attended during the spring term of 1885. Thereafter he taught and attended normal school at intervals until he was enabled to complete the normal course and he was graduated as a member of the class of 1888. For the ensu- ing year he held the position of principal of the public schools at Royal Oak, Oakland county, and for a similar period he thereafter served as principal of the public schools at Birmingham, that county. His next charge was that of principal of the schools at Hanover, Jackson county, where he remained one year, at the ex- piration of which he became a teacher of sciences in the high school at Howell, Livingston county, where he remained two years. For the ensuing two years he was superintendent of the public schools at Fowlerville, Livingston county, and he then returned to St. Joseph county, where he was principal of the public schools of Mendon for five years. He then accepted the principalship of the schools at Colon, this county, where he remained two years, until the spring of 1901, when he became candidate on the Demo- cratic ticket for the office of county commissioner of public schools, to which office he was elected for a term of two years. The efficiency of his administration has been uniformly conceded and he has been twice re-elected, each time with his majority double the preceding one. His present term of office will expire in July, 1911. He will then have served ten years. Mr. Miller is an in- defatigable worker and his ability and genial personality have gained to him the warm friendship of the teachers of the county, who extend to him every possible assistance in the work of his im- portant office.
Reared in the faith of the Democratic party Mr. Miller has never severed his allegiance thereto and is well fortified in his opinions as to matters of public polity. He is affiliated with Dennis Lodge, No. 96, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in the village of Colon, and he and his wife hold membership with the adjunct organization, the Daughters of Rebekah, in the city of Three Rivers, besides which they also hold membership in Center- ville Grange, in which Mr. Miller is lecturer. He and his wife are zealous and devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church
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and he is president of the St. Joseph county Sunday-school asso- ciation. Both he and his wife are active in all departments of church work and he is teacher of a boys' class in the Sunday- school of a church in Centerville.
On the 10th of January, 1895, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Miller to Miss Della Greenaway and they have two sons and one daughter-John H., Fred L. and Margaret E., all of whom are attending the public schools of Centerville. Mrs. Miller was born in Livingston county, Michigan, and is a woman of distinctive culture, having been a successful teacher of instrumental music prior to her marriage. Her parents are both deceased and her father was a native of England.
In Centerville, Mr. and Mrs. Miller have builded a comfort- able home not only for their family but for many others. They are hospitable and socially inclined and their pleasant home is the scene of many social entertainments.
ALFRED FAIRCHILD .- Prominent among the intelligent and en- ergetic agriculturists who have been for many years identified with the farming interests of St. Joseph county, and by good man- agement and thrift have accumulated a fair share of this world's goods, is Alfred Fairchild, now living retired from active pur- suits at Three Rivers. A Pennsylvanian by birth, he was born, May 16, 1841, in Newport township, now Nanticoke, Luzerne county, which was likewise the place in which his father, John Fairchild first drew the breath of life.
Solomon Fairchild, Mr. Fairchild's grandfather, was a farmer by occupation, and, it is supposed, spent his entire life in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. He married Elizabeth Lutsey, who was born in Pennsylvania, a daughter of John Lutsey. A native of Germany, John Lutsey was drafted into the German Army, and, in 1775, belonged to the command that was loaned to the British government at so much a head to come to America to fight the colonists during the Revolutionary War. On arriving in this country, he fought under Cornwallis, and was among the troops surrendered at Yorktown. Instead of returning to the Father- land, he located in Pennsylvania, becoming a pioneer of Luzerne county, where he spent the remainder of his days, there marrying and rearing his family.
John Fairchild was reared on the parental homestead in Luzerne county, and became a farmer from choice. Inheriting from his father land in Newport township, he managed it success-
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fully, becoming one of the leading agriculturists of his community. He was a natural mechanic, and made good use of his talents by doing his own blacksmithing and carpentering, a great saving of time, money and patience in those days as it is now. A part of his farm he platted, and it is now included within the corporate limits of the borough of Nanticoke. There he resided, an honored and respected citizen, until his death, in 1879. He married Martha Line, who was born in Hanover township, Luzerne county, Penn- sylvania, a daughter of Henry and Ann (Slyker) Line. The father of Henry Line, was born and bred in Hackettstown, New Jersey, and removed from there to Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, in pioneer days. To Mr. and Mrs. John Fairchild five children were born, as follows : Annie E., Henry S., Alfred, Martha L., and John M. The mother survived her husband, passing away in 1882.
Alfred Fairchild received his early education in his native county, after eleven years of age attending school during the winter terms, only. Leaving home soon after attaining his ma- jority, he rented land in Luzerne county, and was there profitably engaged in agricultural pursuits until 1879. In that year, impelled by the restless American spirit that is still leading men of energy and enterprise to seek homes in the uncultivated regions of our vast country, Mr. Fairchild came to St. Joseph county, Michigan. Locating in Lockport township, he bought two hundred and eigh- teen acres of land in section 33, and for ten years carried on general farming and stock raising with most satisfactory pecuniary results. Removing then to Three Rivers, he has since resided here, retired from active labor. Mr. Fairchild still owns his farm, which is now managed by his son, and in addition to this valuable property, he has interests in the coal regions of Pennsylvania.
Mr. Fairchild married, November 25, 1863, Euphemia Gar- inger, who was born in Hanover township, Luzerne county, Penn- sylvania, March 23, 1842, a daughter of Charles and Elizabeth (Lueder) Garinger. Mr. and Mrs. Fairchild have four children, namely : Laura, Ervin, Gertrude, and Minnie. Laura, wife of Fred Pashby, has one son, Ralph. Ervin married Norma Pashby, and they have two children, Ernest and Edith. Gertrude, wife of M. W. Lott, has three children, Gerald, Hubert, and Winfield. Mr. Fairchild is a Republican politically.
The first Fairchild reunion was held at Fairchild Park near Berwick, Pennsylvania, August 27, 1908, and was a great success. The family was represented by one hundred and thirty-two per- .. Vol. II-15
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sons ranging in age from eight weeks to eighty-six years, four generations.
ALLEN WESCOTT .- The worthy representative of an honored pioneer family of St. Joseph county, Allen Wescott inherited in a marked degree the energy, enterprise and thrift characteristic of the brave men and women that assisted in transforming this part of Michigan from a wilderness into a land rich in its agricultural and industrial resources. By untiring industry and good man- agement he has acquired a competency, and is now passing the evening of his days in ease and comfort, having a pleasant home at Three Rivers. He was born, August 2, 1831, at Christian Hollow, Onondaga county, New York, twelve miles from the city of Syr- acuse. His father, William Wescott, and his grandfather, Samuel Wescott, were both natives of the Empire state.
Brought up in New York City, Samuel Wescott there learned the shoemaker's trade, which he followed for a time. Subsequently locating in Onondaga county, he turned his attention to agri- cultural pursuits, living there until 1836. In the fall of that year he came to Michigan, making the long trip with teams, bringing with him his family, which consisted of his wife, two sons, William and Charles, and a daughter. Locating in St. Joseph county, he secured one hundred and sixty acres of land in Lockport township, buying it from the government. This part of the state was then in its virginal wildness, with few visible evidences of civilization, there being no railways here for many years after, while through the forests, the happy hunting ground of the Indians, wild animals of all kinds roamed at will. He built two log houses on the place, one for himself and one for his son William, and began the clear- ing and improving of a homestead, a work of no small magnitude, and here lived until a short time before his death, which occurred, when he was eighty-four years of age, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Wolf. His wife, whose maiden name was Deborah Brown, and to whom he was married in 1802, bore him four children.
William Wescott assisted his father in clearing the land that he bought on locating in Lockport township, during the time oc- cupying the log cabin given him for many years. He eventually moved to the farm belonging to his second wife, in the same local- ity, and was there successfully employed in general farming until his death, May 28, 1843. He married first Sally Ann Wright, who was born in New York state. She died on the home farm, in Lockport township, June 7, 1841, leaving six children, namely :
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY
Alvin; Emeline; Edward; Allen and Alma, twins; and Alonzo. By his second marriage he had one son, Hiram D. Wescott.
A child when he came with his parents to St. Joseph county, Allen Wescott received the rudiments of his education in the dis- trict school. After the death of his father he lived for a year with his grandparents, and then began earning his own living, working as farm hand, and receiving at first six dollars a month and his board, his wages being gradually increased from time to time. On August 7, 1862, he enlisted in Company G, Twenty-fifth Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and served until the following January, when he was honorably discharged from the army. Re- turning to St, Joseph county, Mr. Wescott remained here until 1868, when he went to Dakota county, Minnesota, and a short time later bought a tract of land near Farmington, and began his career as an independent farmer. Succeeding in his ventures, Mr. Wes- cott continued his operations there until 1886, when he rented his farm, and came back to his old home to spend a year. In 1887 he returned to Minnesota and having opened a confectionery and ice cream parlor in Farmington, where he built up a fine business, and this he conducted for about seven years. Disposing then of his business and his farm, he once more came to St. Joseph county, and has since lived retired from active pursuits in Three Rivers.
Mr. Wescott has been twice married. He married first, August 18, 1858, Charlotte Amanda Graham, a daughter of James L. and Elizabeth (Paul) Graham, of whom a brief account may be found elsewhere in this volume, in connection with the sketch of Ezra C. Graham. She died January 21, 1891, in Farmington, Minnesota, leaving two children, namely: Alfred B. and Charles 0. Mr. Wescott married second, September 14, 1893, Mrs. De- borah Ann (Rider) Francisco, a native of Syracuse, New York. Her father, William Rider, and her grandfather, Jacob Rider, were both born in Albany, New York. Jacob Rider removed to Rochester, New York, where he owned and operated a line of boats on the Erie Canal for a number of years, continuing his res- idence in that city until his death. William Rider was born Oc- tober 21, 1803. He lived near Syracuse for sometime, from there removing to Rochester, where he had charge for awhile of his father's boats, going then to the town of Greece, where he operated a saw mill a few years. Migrating with his family to St. Joseph county, Michigan, in 1838, he lived for a number of seasons in Lockport township, and then bought a farm in Sherman town- ship, and there spent the remainder of his days. He married
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