USA > Michigan > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph County, Michigan; Volume II > Part 4
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When the farm was sold and the family came into Centerville to live, Mr. Cummings was only five years old, and here he has ever since made his home. The father, upon his abandonment of an agricultural career, engaged in the furniture and undertaking business, and to this the son succeeded upon his father's demise in 1883. Mr. Cummings is the second in a family of four children. An elder brother is John G. Cummings and two younger sisters are Mrs. Nellie Shaffer and Mrs. Clara Gladding. With the excep- tion of the father the original family survives.
Frank S. Cummings was twenty-two years of age when he as- sumed the management of his father's business. Some eight years later, in 1891, he made a step which was to prove of importance in his career. In company with Hugh P. Stewart and Frank Wolf he purchased an interest in the Knitting Mills located in Center- ville. They were subsequently incorporated under the name of the
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RESIDENCE OF MR. AND MRS. EDWARD B. LINSLEY THREE RIVERS, MICHIGAN
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Dr. Denton Sleeping Garment Mills with Mr. Cummings as secre- tary and treasurer of the concern. This has a capital stock of $50,000, and has proved a successful and growing affair. He is also secretary of the Centerville Power Company ; one of the board of managers of the Centerville Water & Electric Light Company, and superintendent of the Prairie River Cemetery.
Mr. Cummings is a citizen who keeps in touch with the prog- ress of events and gives his hand to any movement likely to con- duce to the common good. He is a straight Republican in politics, and as he himself says, he stays straight by crossing out every crooked man on the ticket. He believes that his party stands for honesty, honor and progressiveness and that there are plenty of good men in it, and that if in a moment of forgetfulness its leaders place in nomination a crooked man, the best interests of the country and the party demand that he should be defeated. He has little use for political bosses and easily recognizes the difference be- tween a boss and a leader. Mr. Cummings regards as the crown- ing glory of his life, his selection as a delegate to the National Republican Convention, held in Chicago in 1908. His selection as a representative of the Fourth Congressional District resulted from the unanimous request and endorsement of the St. Joseph County Republican Convention. He has also been honored by the village by being created president of the common council. In his youth Mr. Cummings united with the Methodist Episcopal church and he is actively interested in its affairs and gives his support to its good causes.
On October 16, 1890, Mr. Cummings took as his bride Miss Eloise S. Peeke, eldest daughter of Rev. and Mrs. A. P. Peeke. Rev. Mr. Peeke was at that time pastor of the Centerville Dutch Reformed Church. Whatever of success or usefulness he may have achieved, Mr. Cummings attributes largely to his wife's aid and sympathy. They have four daughters, Margaret Eloise, Jean Grin- nell, Deborah Provost and Josephine Starr. Mrs. Cummings and her daughters are members of and actively identified with the Cen- terville Presbyterian church.
HON. EDWARD B. LINSLEY .- A citizen who has contributed in a generous measure to the industrial and civic progress of the city of Three Rivers and why may consistently be designated as one of the "captains of industry" in this favored section of the Wolver- ine state, is Hon. Edward B. Linsley, recently state senator from the sixth district, comprising the counties of Branch, Hillsdale and Vol. II-3
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St. Joseph. He has not only shown marked initiative and con- structive ability as a business man but he has also been an influen- tial factor in public affairs and has exemplified the most liberal and public-spirited citizenship. He has had much to do with the up- building of the business of the Sheffield Car Company, one of the important industrial concerns of the state and one that has added materially to the commercial prestige and business stability of Three Rivers. As one of the essentially representative citizens of St. Joseph county Senator Linsley is entitled to special recognition in this publication.
Hon. Edward Baldwin Linsley was born in Henrietta, Monroe county, New York, on the 27th of July, 1847, and is a son of Darius M. and Margaret L. (Baldwin) Linsley. The genealogical line in America is traced back in a direct way to John Linsley, who landed at New Haven, Connecticut, in 1636, and who was living at Bran- ford, Connecticut, in 1644. From 1648 to 1655 he was a resident of Guilford, that colony, where his death occurred, as did also that of his wife, Ellen. Their son, John Linsley, Jr., was born in Bran- ford, Connecticut, in 1644, and at that place, in 1669, was solemn- ized his marriage. The family name of his wife is not recorded but her Christian name was Hannah. Benjamin Linsley, second son of John and Hannah Linsley, was born in Branford, in 1673. Abial Linsley, the eldest son of Benjamin and Mary Linsley, was born March 22, 1700, and his eldest son, Abial, Jr., was born in 1730. The latter married Thankful Pond, on the 5th of October, 1752. The eldest son of this union was Joel, who was born in North Branford, Connecticut, on the 7th of February, 1756. Abial Linsley, Jr., was a resident of Litchfield county, Connecticut, in 1761, and with a number of other citizens of that county, he be- came one of the original grantees of the town of Cornwall, Addison county, Vermont; his name appears on the original charter or grant from King George III of England, by the hand of B. Went- worth, governor of the province of New Hampshire. At a later period he was engaged in trade with the Indians on the border of Lake Erie.
Joel Linsley, son of Abial Linsley, Jr., was born February, 7, 1756, as already stated. In 1775 he removed from Woodbury, Con- necticut, to Cornwall, Vermont, where he became one of the first settlers. At the outbreak of the war of the Revolution the depre- dations of the Indians made it impossible for the settlers to remain at Cornwall, and Joel Linsley, therefore, returned to Connecticut in 1777. He and his father were both soldiers in the Connecticut
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troops in the Revolutionary war, as was also the younger brother, Abial (III). In 1783 the father and sons returned to Cornwall, Vermont, where they made permanent settlement and where the father died in 1800, at the age of seventy years. After a few years Abial (III) removed to Augusta, Oneida county, New York. The following data concerning his children are given, the respective dates of birth being entered in connection with the names: Laura, July 6, 1784; Thankful, July 12, 1786; Clarissa, July 17, 1787; Henry Gilbert, August 3, 1789; and Nancy, September 7, 1791.
Joel Linsley, of Cornwall, Vermont, was the great-grandfather of him whose name initiates this article and was a prominent and influential citizen of the old Green Mountain state in his day and generation. He was appointed town clerk of Cornwall at the time of the organization of the town in 1785, and he held this office con- secutively for thirty-three years, save for an interim of two years, having been incumbent of the position at the time of his death, in 1818. He also served as chief judge of the county court and repre- sented his town for several years in the state legislature. Judge Joel Linsley married Lavina Gilbert, who was born in December, 1758, and the names of their children are here given, with respect- ive dates of birth : Sally, May 11, 1783; Betsey, September 11, 1785; Horace, December 13, 1787; Joel Harvey (who was for many years well known in New England as the pastor of the Park Church, Bos- ton, and later of the Congregational Church of Greenwich, Connec- ticut), July 15, 1790; Gilbert, May 9, 1793; Charles, August 29, 1795; Lucius, May 26, 1798; and Julius, February 6, 1801. Sally married Rev. Truman Baldwin, who was for many years engaged in the work of the ministry in the state of New York and who was born in Granville, Massachusetts, September 27, 1780. He died at Cicero, Onondaga county, New York, in 1865, where his wife had passed away in 1862. Their children were: Aurelia, Elizabeth, and Margaret Lavinia, the last mentioned of whom became the wife of Darius M. Linsley, as will be noted more specifically in a later paragraph.
Horace Linsley, eldest son of Judge Joel Linsley, was born at Cornwall, Vermont, December 13, 1787. About 1812 he married Temperance Sampson, daughter of Eliphalet Sampson, and their children were Lavina, who was born in 1814, and died in 1834, and Gilbert P., who was born in 1816 and died in 1874. After the death of his first wife Horace Linsley married Abigail Matthews, in 1819. She was a daughter of Dr. Darius Matthews, of Corn- wall, Vermont, and her death occurred August 20, 1820. The only
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child of the second marriage was Darius M., who was born July 20, 1820, and who was the father of Senator Linsley, the subject of this review. Darius Matthews Linsley was graduated in Middle- bury College, Connecticut, as a member of the class of 1841, re- ceived the degree of Bachelor of Arts at this time and later his alma mater conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. He was twice married. On the 6th of September, 1846, he wedded Miss Margaret L. Baldwin, daughter of Rev. Truman and Sally (Lin- sley) Baldwin, mentioned in a preceding paragraph. The only son of this union is Edward Baldwin Linsley, to whom this arti- cle is dedicated.
Darius M. Linsley was a man of fine intellectual attainments and was for many years a successful teacher. For a time he was principal in the city schools of Rochester, New York, later being engaged in educational work in Watertown and Syracuse, New York, and Lyons, Iowa, locating in 1857 in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where he was engaged in the establishment of the Michigan Female Seminary at that place for many years an important factor in the educational system of the state. He passed the closing years of his life near Medina, New York, where he died in 1894. His first wife, mother of the subject of this sketch, was summoned to the life eternal in 1865. Both were devout members of the Presbyterian church.
Edward Baldwin Linsley gained his rudimentary education in the public schools of his native state and Iowa, and was a lad of about ten years at the time of the family removal to Kalamazoo, Michigan. There he continued his studies until he had completed the curriculum of the public schools, and in 1867, at the age of twenty years, he came to Three Rivers, where he has since main- tained his home and where he has won large and worthy success through his well directed efforts. Upon taking up his residence in Three Rivers, Senator Linsley secured a position as clerk in the drug store of Wing & Major, with whom he remained four years, at the expiration of which he formed a partnership with Ashbel W. Snyder, with whom he was associated in the drug business for a number of years, under the firm name of Snyder & Linsley. In 1881 Senator Linsley became one of the interested principals in the firm of Geo. S. Sheffield & Co. and engaged in the manufacturing of small railway cars and railway velocipedes. From a modest in- ception has been built up the large and important industrial enter- prise now controlled by the Sheffield Car Company, which was or- ganized and incorporated in 1882 and of which he was chosen sec-
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retary and treasurer. He held this dual office until 1902, when he became general manager of the company, a position he has since ยท retained. Concerning his identification with this business enter- prise the following statements were made in a newspaper article and are worthy of perpetuation in this connection :
"During all these years of service in the company referred to, Mr. Linsley has had much to do in building up the affairs of the company, especially in the way of advertising its productions. He went to England and thence traveled extensively through Europe, and the result was that orders from foreign countries came to the company, whose business was largely increased."
The Sheffield Car Company may consistently be said to repre- sent the most important industrial business in Three Rivers, and in the furthering of its affairs Mr. Linsley has done much to pro- mote the industrial and civic prosperity of the city in which he has so long maintained his home and in which he has ever com- manded unqualified confidence and esteem. He has ever shown the deepest interest in all that has tended to advance the business and civic welfare of the city and his public spirit and generosity have been shown along many different lines. He was for several years a member of the city board of education, and in this connection he gave most effective and loyal service in bringing the schools up to the highest possible standard. In 1888 he was elected mayor of the city, of which office he continued incumbent for one term, and it is a matter of record that his administration of municipal affairs was characterized by a broad-minded, progressive and essentially prac- tical policy, making his regime as mayor one of the best in the his- tory of the city.
Relative to his active identication with other local interests no better tribute can, perhaps, be given than the following, taken from an appreciative newspaper article :
"The organization of a building and loan association was first broached in this city by Mr. Linsley and in association with others he laid the foundations of one of the strongest and most ably managed associations of this kind in the state. This organization was effected in January, 1887, and Mr. Linsley was elected presi- dent, a position he has held continuously ever since. While he has had many efficient officials to aid him in the management of the affairs of the association, it is conceded by all who have to do with the concern that its present stability and financial prosperity are largely due to his careful management and his intense interest in the association, which is incorporated under the title of the Three
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Rivers Building & Loan Association. The result of his work in this direction may be seen to-day all over the city, in the many hand- some residences that have been erected and that would never have thus materialized had it not been for the interposition of this asso- ciation.
"Coming down to the time of the establishment of the free public library in this city, we find Mr. Linsley again actively en- gaged, in building up a library that is now the pride of the city. For several years the library was held jointly by Three Rivers and Lockport township, but, as usual in such cases, a few disgruntled persons in the township became dissatisfied with the small tax re- quired of them for the support of the library, and the result was that the city purchased the entire library, of which it has since re- mained the sole owner. Mr. Linsley has ever been a warm sup- porter of the library and about 1903 he opened correspondence with Andrew Carnegie, with the result that the latter donated to the city the sum of twelve thousand five hundred dollars for a library building, on condition that the city raise by taxation twelve hun- dred and fifty dollars each year for the support of the library. The beautiful library building was completed in 1905, on a fine lot in the heart of the city, and it stands as a perpetual monument to Mr. Linsley's faithful work. The lot on which the building is lo- cated was donated by Hon. Warren J. Willits, mainly through the influence of Mr. Linsley. Mr. Linsley has been president of the library from the time of its organization, more than a quarter of a century ago."
In politics Senator Linsley has ever been aligned as a stanch advocate of the principles and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor and he has shown a lively interest in the pro- motion of its cause. He has been active and influential in its local councils and on the 8th of November, 1904, was given a consistent recognition of his eligibility and loyalty when he was elected to represent the sixth district in the state senate, by a gratifying ma- jority. In 1906 he was chosen as his own successor and thus was given the best voucher for popular appreciation of his services. He has been an effective worker on both the floor and in the committee rooms of the senate and his course has been such as to gain to him the unqualified confidence and commendation of his constituency. His second term expired January 1, 1909. The Senator was ac- tively identified with the Michigan National Guard for a period of ten years, and during much of this time he served as a commissioned officer. He still shows a loyal interest in the state militia and is
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ever ready to lend his influence and aid in the promotion of its efficiency and well being. He and his wife are zealous and devoted members of the First Presbyterian church of Three Rivers, in which he has been a ruling elder for many years, and he is identified with various fraternal and civic organizations of representative order in his home city. A man of broad views, of quickened hu- man sympathies and tolerance, democratic in his ways and genial and kindly in all the relations of life, Senator Linsley well merits the high regard in which he is held in the community that has so long represented his home and been the scene of his earnest and fruitful endeavors as an able business man and loyal citizen.
In Three Rivers, on the 21st of September, 1876, was solem- nized the marriage of Senator Linsley to Miss Emma L. Burch, who was born in Lapeer county and who is a daughter of the late Captain Hosea Burch, who served with distinction in the Twenty- eighth Michigan Volunteer Infantry in the Civil war. Senator and Mrs. Linsley have two children: Raymond Burch, and Mar- garet Ellen, both being natives of Three Rivers. The son is con- nected with the Sheffield Car Company, being their purchasing agent, and the daughter has entered her Junior year in Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts.
LEVERETT AUGUSTUS CLAPP is one of St. Joseph county's na- tive sons and most honored residents. He was born in its town of Mottville on June 24, 1837, and he traces his descent through many generations to one of the most prominent of the early colonists. Roger Clapp, born at Salcombe Regis in Devonshire, England, April 6, 1609, came to America in the ship "Mary and John" and arrived at Dorchester, now the city of Boston, Massachusetts, on the 30th of May, 1630. His life was ever a busy one, and he was said to have been a God-fearing man and forward and earnest in works of benevolence. His ability, energy and sterling character were acknowledged by the colony, for at the age of twenty-eight he was chosen selectman and was fourteen times returned to that office, and he was captain of the militia of the colony, and on August 10, 1665, was appointed by the General Court as captain of the Castle, now Fort Independence, in Boston Harbor. He held that office for twenty-one years, resigning it in 1686, when seventy- seven years of age, and as he left the office a volley of nine guns were fired as a token of the honor and esteem in which he was held. He died on the 2d of February, 1691.
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Roger Clapp married on November 6, 1633, Joanna Ford, she having also been a passenger on the same ship which brought him to America. She was born on the 8th of June, 1617, and she died at Boston on the 29th of June, 1695. The line of descent from Roger and Joanna Clapp includes Preserved Clapp, born November 23, 1643; Roger Clapp (2), born May 24, 1684; Asahel Clapp, born in about the year of 1717; Asahel Clapp (2), born in about 1745; Asahel Clapp (3), born in about 1770; Asahel Clapp (4), born January 24, 1804; Leverett A. Clapp, born in Mottville township, June 24, 1837; and Edwin Lacey Clapp, of the ninth generation from Roger and Joanna Clapp.
Asahel Clapp, the fourth of the name, was born at Northamp- ton, Massachusetts, and he married on the 25th of July, 1833, Char- lotte A. May, a daughter of Chauncey May of Pittsfield, Massa- chusetts, where the daughter Charlotte was born on the 8th of June, 1814. In November of 1835 they, as early pioneers, located in Mottville township, St. Joseph county, Michigan, as their per- manent home. Asahel Clapp held several important offices in his township and county, and in the year of 1854 was elected on the Republican ticket as the register of deeds. After occupying that office for ten years he moved to White Pigeon and embarked in a mercantile business. Both he and his wife were acceptable mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in its faith they passed away in death in White Pigeon, he on the 1st of December, 1876, and she on the 11th of April, 1904.
Leverett Augustus Clapp received a common school training, and leaving the parental home when a lad of ten years, he after- ward resided with an uncle, M. W. Dimick, on a farm in Florence township for four years, and at that time, although but a boy of fourteen, he was able to manage a peppermint oil distillery as well as the most capable of the men. Moving then to the village of Mottville Mr. Clapp became a clerk in a general store, and with his employer he moved to Shelbyville, Indiana, in 1854, and con- tinued along the same line until January, 1857, when he accepted the position of deputy register of deeds in his father's office at Centerville. In the year of 1864 he was elected to the office and served as a register of deeds for two years and then was not a candidate for re-election. On leaving the office he compiled the books of abstracts of titles of St. Joseph county, although they are not now owned by him. The Republican state convention of 1872 placed Mr. Clapp in nomination for the office of Commissioner of the state land office, to which he was elected in November of
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that year and by re-election in 1874 served in the office for four years. He had the management and sale of the state lands, and his office as Commissioner entitling him to a membership on the board of State Auditors which audited all the accounts against the state. In the year of 1870 he was elected secretary of the Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Company of St. Joseph county, and he has served in that office for forty years, and from the annual published reports of the state commissioner of insurance it appears that he is the oldest representative in years of service of any secretary of any mutual fire insurance company in the state, a high honor and one greatly appreciated by Mr. Clapp. He takes a deep and com- mendable interest in the welfare of his company. He has served as executor, administrator and guardian of many estates. He is a Knights Templar Mason, was a worshipful master of Mt. Hermon Lodge No. 24 for four years and high priest of Centerville Chapter No. 11, Royal Arch Masons, for two years. He attends the services of the First Baptist church, and although not a member of the church, he has been a trustee of the corporate body of the church during the past twenty-two years.
Mr. Clapp married at Centerville on December 6, 1864, Miss Amanda E. Hampson, who was born here on the 12th of August, 1840, a daughter of Henry W. Hampson, born at Mill Creek in Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, October 17, 1805. He moved to Centerville on the 13th of November, 1833, where he followed his occupations of carpenter and joiner and farmer. He was for many years a faithful member of and a deacon in the Baptist church, and he died on the 14th of May, 1874. He had married Mahala Fletcher, born at Pompey, Onondaga county, New York, July 30, 1813, and in the year of 1829 she located with her parents in Nottawa township, St. Joseph county, and she was thus num- bered among the early pioneers of that community. She died at Centerville on the 30th of October, 1901. Mrs. Clapp received a high school education, and before her marriage was a teacher in the common and high schools. She is a member of the First Baptist church at Centerville.
Edwin Lacey Clapp, a son of Leverett and Amanda Clapp, was born at Centerville on September 24, 1865, and he received a high school education and also holds a diploma from Eastman's Busi- ness College. He is the present postmaster of Centerville, also the secretary of the Water and Electric Company and he is prominently engaged in the insurance business. Edwin L. Clapp married on
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the 7th of November, 1894, Miss Emma Genevieve Sadler, born at Centerville July 8, 1867.
RUSSEL RALPH PEALER .- One of the most prominent citizens of St. Joseph county, Michigan, in legal, business and political circles, is Russel Ralph Pealer, who has been a member of the bar of the county since January, 1868. Mr. Pealer was born near Rohrsburg, in Greenwood township, Columbia county, Pennsyl- vania, January 1, 1842, and is a son of George and Rebecca Boyd (Hampton) Pealer, being of German ancestry on his paternal side and of English ancestry on his maternal side. George Pealer was a son of Daniel and Mary (Kuder) Pealer, and the oldest of twelve children.
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