USA > Michigan > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph County, Michigan; Volume II > Part 3
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HON. SAMUEL GIBSON, president of the Commercial State Bank, of Constantine, was born in Northumberland county, Penn- sylvania, September 22, 1830, and is a son of John Gibson. John Gibson was a native of Ireland, who came to the United States with his parents when but two years of age, and they settled in Ohio, where he was reared. He was a farmer, and came to Mich- igan in 1848, locating in St. Joseph county. He held local offices in the township, was a Presbyterian and lived to be about eighty
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years of age. He was very successful as a farmer. John Gibson married Elizabeth DeFrance, also a native of Pennsylvania, whose father was French and her mother Irish. Mrs. Gibson died at the age of sixty-five. They have seven children, all of whom grew to maturity, and five are living at this writing, Samuel being the old- est son and third child.
Samuel Gibson was in his eighteenth year when the family moved to Michigan. He received a common school education and began working for himself when a young man; he had charge of most of his father's business, and he carried on the farm of two hundred acres, in Constantine township. At the death of his father the homestead was willed to Samuel, on the condition that he pay his brothers and sisters a stipulated sum, and he continued to live here until 1903. He then moved to the town of Constantine, where he now resides. He increased the farm to four hundred and forty acres, paying $100. per acre for one hundred and three acres and $112.50 per acre for the remainder.
Mr. Gibson is president of the Central State Bank in Geneseo, Kansas, and besides his interest in the Commercial State Bank of Constantine, has many other interests in the state of Michigan. He has always been actively interested in political affairs, and was a state representative under Governor Pingree's administra- tion. He was also chosen a delegate to the Farmers' National Congress, at St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1897. Mr. Gibson is a mem- ber of the Congregational church, and acted many years as trus- tee. He appreciates the value of a good education, and after send- ing his children to the public schools of the vicinity, sent them away to acquire the benefits of a higher education. His sons went to Poughkeepsie, New York, and all are doing well. Mr. Gibson himself is a man of liberal ideas, is a great friend of progress, and has a wide experience, having traveled extensively through the west and south. He stands well in the community, where he is well known, and his character appreciated.
In 1860 he married Martha J. Greene, and they have six chil- dren, namely : Elizabeth J., wife of Thomas Balkwill, of Detroit, Michigan ; Caroline, unmarried, living at home; John S., vice pres- ident of the Central State Bank, of Geneseo, Kansas; Frances I., wife of William I. Fell, of Battle Creek; Gertrude, at home; and William, living on the old homestead, on Broad Street, Con- stantine township.
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CHAUNCEY J. HALBERT is the present postmaster of Sturgis, and he is one of the prominent public men of St. Joseph county. He was born near Battle Creek in Bedford township, Calhoun county, Michigan, January 11, 1858. He was born on a farm, but after he had attained his fifth year his father, a millwright, lived in different towns in Michigan, and the son in the meantime re- ceived a graded school training. At the age of eighteen he was made a freight and ticket agent by the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad Company, filling those positions in Indiana and at Men- don, this state, and for twenty-two years he was their agent at Sturgis. He has since early life been interested in public affairs, and he has served Sturgis as mayor, councilman and postmaster. He filled the office of mayor for two terms, and on the 1st of June, 1906, he was appointed postmaster, under the administration of Roosevelt, a position he has since continued to fill with ability and efficiency. Mr. Halbert is a substantial citizen, taking an active and helpful part in the progress and welfare of his community.
He has been twice married, wedding first Miss Lenora Barne- bee from Mendon. Two daughters were born to this union, Mary A. and Almeda. The former is a graduate of the Sturgis High School, and was a teacher until her marriage to Walter J. Lein- bach, of Three Rivers, this state. Almeda is a graduate of Mich- igan Seminary, and is the wife of Homer B. Jacobs, a merchant of Sturgis. Mr. Halbert married for his second wife Ella M. Reid, of Mendon, Michigan. Mr. Halbert is a member of Meridian Sun Lodge No. 49, F. & A. M., of Sturgis Chapter No. 26, R. A. M., of Sturgis Council No. 13, R. & S. M., and of Columbia Commandery No. 18, K. T. He stands high in the local councils of the Masonic fraternity. In politics he is allied with the Republican party. The Halbert home is at 205 South Jefferson street, Sturgis.
EDWARD W. HOWARD, one of the substantial citizens of White Pigeon, was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, November 16, 1879, and is a son of Horace and Emma (Smith) Howard. He came to White Pigeon with his parents when about one year old, and has since been a resident of this town. Here he received his educa- tion in the public schools, and at the age of seventeen years pur- chased stock and started a livery stable at his father's farm. He started as the youngest business man of the town, and has re- mained continuously in the same line, nearly as long as any res- ident of the town, though still young in years. He possessed natural business ability and foresight, and has been very success-
Gallery
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ful. In 1898 Mr. Howard built his present barn. By his strict attention to the wants of his customers, and the upright manner in which his business has been conducted, Mr. Howard has won the confidence of all with whom he has had business dealings, and is considered a representative, useful citizen. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Elkhart Lodge No. 425, and is also insured in the New York Life Insurance Com- pany.
September 16, 1900, Mr. Howard married Camilla Houpt, a native of St. Joseph county born in January, 1877. They are the parents of three children, namely: Julia, born July 10, 1902; Emma, April 18, 1904; and Lorraine, April 23, 1908.
REV. NEWELL A. MCCUNE .- The intellectual powers and con- secrated zeal of Mr. McCune have given him prestige as one of the able and honored representatives of the clergy of the Meth- odist Episcopal church in the state of Michigan, and he is labor- ing with all of earnest devotion and with marked administrative ability as pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal church of Three Rivers, whose spiritual and temporal affairs are being signally prospered under his regime.
Newell Avery McCune was born in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the 21st of July, 1881, and is a son of William John and Angeline (Snow) McCune, of whose two sons he is the younger. The elder son, William G., who attended Albion Col- lege, in pursuing his studies along academic lines, was later grad- uated in the law department of the University of Michigan, and he is now engaged in the successful practice of his profession in the city of Petoskey, Michigan, where he is also prominently iden- tified with the insurance business. He and his wife are zealous members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in his home city he is the valued superintendent of one of the largest Sunday schools in the northern part of the state.
William John McCune was born in the city of New York, on the 28th of May, 1843, and he and his wife now reside in Petoskey, Michigan, where he is successfully established in the real estate and insurance business, being one of the honored and influential citizens of that city. He was reared in New York city and Detroit, Michigan, and received collegiate training. His father was born in Scotland, and the present-day scions of the stanch old family manifest the sterling traits that are so characteristic of the people of the land of hills and heather. William J. McCune
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is an earnest and consistent advocate of the cause of the Prohibi- tion party and has been from his youth a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which his cherished and devoted wife also labored with much of zeal and devotion. She was born in 1846, in the state of New York, and was educated in Cazenovia Seminary. She was a woman of culture and most gracious per- sonality. She passed the closing years of her life in Petoskey, where she died in the year 1891.
Rev. Newell A. McCune has been a resident of Michigan from his childhood days and he was reared to years of maturity in the city of Petoskey, to whose public schools he is indebted for his early educational training, which was effectively supplemented by a course in the Michigan Agricultural College, at Lansing, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1901. After his graduation, he went to Berea, Kentucky, where he was in- structor in agriculture and biology until 1903, after which he was a special student in the University of Michigan for one year. He matriculated in the Union Theological School in the city of Boston, and in this institution he completed the prescribed course, being graduated as a member of the class of 1907, with the degree of Bachelor of Sacred Theology. After effective post-graduate work in the same institution he received therefrom the degree of Master of Arts.
In May, 1907, he came to Three Rivers and assumed the duties of his assignment to the pastorate of the First Methodist Episcopal church, one of the oldest and most representative re- ligious organizations in St. Joseph county. Within the pastorate of Mr. McCune the church has expended three thousand dollars in refurnishing and otherwise improving the church edifice, which is now essentially modern and attractive in its appointments, which include a fine pipe organ, installed at a cost of twenty-one hundred dollars. All departments of the church work have been vitalized by Mr. McCune, with the earnest and sympathetic co- operation of the church people, and the membership roll now shows an aggregate of fully four hundred names of those who are active communicants.
Mr. McCune is an earnest and effective speaker, and his sermons show careful study and broad intellectual grasp, the while his abiding human sympathy and kindly tolerance add materially to the power of his pulpit utterances as well as to the effectiveness of his other pastoral labors. He and his gracious wife have a secure place in the affection and esteem of the citizens of Three
The Mill
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Rivers, and Mrs. McCune has proved a most able coadjutor of her husband in connection with his pastoral work. He is a Republi- can in his political allegiance and as a citizen he exemplifies the highest civic ideals, doing all in his power to further educational, moral and social advancement.
On the 19th of June, 1907, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. McCune to Miss Caroline R. Jennings, who was reared in the city of Petoskey, Michigan, in whose public schools she secured her early educational training, which was supplemented by study in the Northern Indiana University, at Valparaiso, and Olivet Col- lege, at Olivet, Michigan. Prior to her marriage she had been a successful teacher in the public schools and had also been an in- structor in instrumental music. Her parents, William H. and Rachel (Devitt) Jennings, still reside in Petoskey, where her father is a successful horticulturist and business man.
THOMAS J. HILL .- Since the coming of Elisha Hill and his fam- ily from New York to Colon, Michigan, in 1849, they have played a prominent and praiseworthy part in the affairs of the community. Of the four sons of this worthy gentleman, Thomas J. Hill is the sole survivor, Edwin R. Hill having passed on to his reward in 1909. Thomas J. Hill, the subject of this sketch, is one of the stable men of Colon's commercial citizenship. He is the youngest member of his family, his father and mother and part of their family having come from the Empire State to Indiana, where they stayed for a few years previous to their removal to Michigan. It was in Liberty, Union county, in the Hoosier state that the birth of Thomas J. Hill occurred, the date being October 5, 1840. His parents were Elisha and Pamelia (Pope) Hill, the former being a native of Lebanon, Madison county, New York, where his birth occurred in 1810. He lived to see the greater part of the nineteenth century, his demise occurring in the year 1894. He identified himself with Colon in a manner which has made his memory an honorable heirloom to the younger generation of the town. Although never robust in health his indomitable will and executive ability were such that he enjoyed much success. For some years previous to his establishment of himself in the banking business he engaged in the merchandise business in Colon. He was known for his strict integrity of char- acter and he and his wife were valued members of the Baptist church, having affiliated with it in 1855. Fraternally he was a member of the great Masonic order and politically he subscribed to the principles of Jacksonian Democracy, being ardent in his sup-
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port of its tenets. He and his sons, Edwin R. and Thomas J. Hill, instituted the E. Hill & Sons Bank in 1870, the father being presi- dent, Edwin R. Hill acting as cashier and Thomas J. Hill holding the office of assistant cashier.
Pamelia (Pope) Hill was born in Cherry Valley, New York, November 22, 1810. A descendant of General Pope and coming from one of the best known families of the New England states, she inherited strength of character and intelligence to an unusual de- gree. Always interested in every good work for the benefit of humanity, she had no small part in the upbuilding of the commu- nity in which she lived. With her marriage to Elisha Hill in 1836, she accepted the responsibility of helping to rear his three sons by a former marriage, and to them, as well as her own son, Thos. J., she was an ideal mother. To her wise counsel, good judgment and industry may be attributed largely the success of the firm of E. Hill & Sons. In 1897 a beautiful opera house was erected by this firm, and on the night of the opening play, Mrs. Hill, then in her eighty- eighth year, was able to attend. As she leaned upon the arm of her son, Thos. J., who assisted her to enter their box, she was greeted with cheers by the audience, many of whom had known and hon -. ored her for over half a century, and by whom she is still spoken of as being the life of every social gathering which she attended. In the winter of 1901 she was stricken with paralysis from which she never recovered, her death occurring in March of that year. Thus ended a life of nearly ninety-one years rich in service for the Mas- ter and of blessing to mankind, and when the call came "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," it found her ready to go.
Thomas J. Hill has passed virtually all his life in St. Joseph county, Michigan. His interests have always been co-incident with the best interests of Colon and he is a successful business man in the truest sense of the word. He attended the public schools and what supplementary education he acquired was of a practical na- ture. At the age of seventeen he began his experience as a sales- man in his father's store, and his career in a mercantile field cov- ered about seven years, in the foregoing capacity and also in a more independent way. As referred to above, in 1870 the father and sons formed a partnership for the establishing of the E. Hill & Sons Exchange Bank, which at a much later date became known as the E. Hill & Sons State Bank. This has a capital of $40,000 and since 1909 Thomas J. Hill has been president of the institution, his son Frank E., filling the office of cashier with entire competency. The
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bank is indeed looked upon as one of the solid and substantial insti- tutions of St. Joseph county. Mr. Hill's interests, however, have not been confined to banking. In 1891 he assumed the manage- ment and superintendency of the "Lamb Knit Goods Company," which had been organized two years previously. Under the cap- taincy of Mr. Hill this became one of the leading industries of Colon, its capital stock increasing from $14,000 to $40,000, the business of the concern annually averaging between $200,000 and $250,000. Mr. Hill resigned from the management of "The Lamb Knit Goods Company" in May, 1910, his connection therewith having been of nineteen years' duration.
Mr. Hill has been four times married. His first wife was Miss Fannie Crippen, a native of Michigan and the mother of two chil- dren. The elder is deceased, but the son, Frank E. Hill, is cashier of the State Bank and one of Colon's favorite sons. After pursu- ing his education in the public schools he became a student at Hills- dale College. Frank E. Hill has been twice married. His first wife was Miss Mertie Smith and two daughters named Charlotte and Fannie were born. Miss Bertha Good became the second wife and this union has been blessed by the birth of a son, Raymond G., and a daughter, Ruth. Frank E. Hill is a Republican of stanch convictions and is prominently identified with the Masonic frater- nity.
Thomas J. Hill's present wife was before her marriage to that gentleman Mrs. Evelyn (McNiel) Doak. Mrs. Hill is prominent in club work and is a member of the Baptist church. She was born in Springport, Michigan, March 31, 1870. She was the youngest daughter of Charles and Sarah (Deyoe) McNiel, who are among the early settlers to come from the state of New York to build a home in the wilds of Michigan.
She received her education in the public school of her home town, and at the high school in Lansing, later being a teacher. Her union to Thomas J. Hill occurred June 8, 1898. They have three children, Marian Elizabeth, born May 23, 1900, who is very profi- cient in her school work, and gives promise of ability in music and art. Edwin R. Hill, Jr., born Oct. 7, 1901, was named for his uncle, who later had a son by the same name. Edwin, Jr., is now nine years of age, and is by nature fitted to follow his father's foot-steps in the banking business, having been imbued with a strict sense of honesty, which even at his early age gives promise that "as the twig is bent the tree is inclined." Thos. J. Hill, Jr., named for his father, was born July 18, 1910, and at the present time is four
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months old, and a source of comfort and pleasure to his parents and brother and sister, especially to his father, who is nearly seventy years of age.
The Republican party finds a loyal adherent in Thos. J. Hill and he has been called upon at various times to serve as delegate to county conventions. It would be hard to find anywhere a warmer friend of the cause of good education and the elevation of the stand- ards of the public schools. He is public spirited, and ready to support all measures likely to result in the greatest good to the greatest number, and his genial and cordial manners have gained for him a large following of friends. His residence is one of the most attractive in Colon, which might well be called the town of pretty homes.
DR. DENTON SLEEPING GARMENT KNITTING MILLS .- One of the leading industries of St. Joseph county is becoming known through- out the country under the title named above, by those who realize the hygienic necessity of being even more particular in adopting sanitary sleeping garments than those which are worn in the wak- ing hours. At this period of all others, when nature builds up strained or exhausted vitality, it is absolutely essential to health and useful work that everything should be done to assist her in this re-creation of life. The inventor of this garment, those who have improved upon his original ideas, and the manufacturers who have practically carried out every scientific and hygienic require- ment to the letter, should be classed as public benefactors. In this class no one can be mentioned who has been more fertile in ideas or more energetic and successful in bringing them into the practical and marketable form of hygienic garments, than Frank S. Cummings of Centerville, secretary and treasurer of the com- pany at that place.
The mill was built in 1872 and operated as the Centerville Knitting Company by leading business men and farmers of the vicinity. Among the prominent subscribers to the original stock were H. C. Campbell, Harvey Cady, John C. Joss, W. J. Major, John I. Major, George Yauney and the five Wolf brothers. The first period of the business may be said to have concluded in 1885 and was characterized by considerable friction and rivalry the result being that it was thrown into the courts and assigned to one of the factions. In the year named it was sold to W. D. Ing- ham and Dr. Whitney Denton and until 1891 was operated under the style of Ingham & Denton.
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Mr. Ingham retired from the business in 1891, and his interest was purchased by Frank S. Cummings, H. P. Stewart, and Frank Wolf, all of Centerville. The resulting firm of W. Denton & Com- pany then assumed as a specialty the invention of Dr. Denton, a sleeping garment, the manufacture of the mills having been virtu- ally confined heretofore to men's underwear. At this juncture Dr. Denton emphasized and increased the hygienic quality and features of the goods turned out by the factory, particularly the sleeping garment specialty, and give the business a decided impetus.
After the death of Dr. Denton in 1896, the business affairs of the company were much involved for several years, a receiver- ship being appointed in 1899, in order to bring matters into court for adjustment. In 1900 the business was assigned to Messrs. Cummings, Stewart, and Wolf, who immediately inaugurated a revival and expansion of the concern which has resulted in the prosperous manufactory of the present. For a year the enterprise was conducted under the name of the W. Denton Company, but was reorganized in 1901 as a stock concern, called the Michigan Central Woolen Company. The machinery was increased in quan- tity and improved in quality, a large addition to the original plant was made, and the underwear turned out was of a much higher grade and in far greater bulk. Other parties became financially interested so that the means became fully adequate to the con- tinuous expansion and the improvement along all lines. The in- creasing sale of the Dr. Denton Sleeping Garment became so em- phatic during the first few years of the reorganized business that in 1909 the management deemed it best to discontinue all other lines of manufacture and also to re-incorporate under its present name.
The capital stock of the Dr. Denton Sleeping Garment Mills is $50,000. Much credit for the largely increased business is due to W. S. Herron, vice-president, and sales manager and F. W. Thomas, general manager. Both of these gentlemen come from Toledo, Ohio, and have had much business experience. The officers of the company are as follows : Hugh P. Stewart, president ; W. S. Herron, vice-president; Frank S. Cummings, secretary and treas- urer; F. W. Thomas, general manager; W. E. Clogher, superin- tendent; and Frank Wolf, director.
FRANK SOLOMON CUMMINGS, secretary and treasurer of the Denton Sleeping Garment Mills, with numerous additional in- terests, is a man whose executive ability has won for him recogni-
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tion in the business world and whose principles and standards, be- ing above par, have gained for him the respect of the community in which he makes his home. He was born on a farm midway between Centerville and Three Rivers, November 6, 1860, and he is proud of the date, not from any sense of personal gratification, but because it was upon this day that Abraham Lincoln was for the first time elected president of the United States. His parents were Charles and Hannah (Grinnell) Cummings, both natives of New York state.
The Cummings family originated in Italy, or rather the genealogy begins in Lombardy, in the fourth century. They crossed the Alps into France in the sixth century, going from there to Scotland, where they remained for centuries and seem to have been conspicuous in many wars. The family was designated as the Cumin Clan and their badge was the cumin plant. The name originated from association with the town of Comines, near Lille, on the boundary between France and Belgium. The direct an- cestor of Mr. Cummings came from England (where he had earlier gone from Scotland), to Salem, Massachusetts, in 1627, seven years after the historic "Mayflower" came. This immigrant's name was Isaac Cummings, and he was one of that large colony which formed a settlement in what is now Topsfield and Ipswich, Essex county, Massachusetts. The lineage in the male line is as follows : Isaac, John, Abraham, Jacob, Solomon, Solomon, Charles and Frank Solomon, Mr. Cummings being the eighth generation in this country and named in honor of his grandfather, Dr. Solomon Cummings.
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