USA > Michigan > St Joseph County > History of St. Joseph county, Michigan, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public buildings, fine blocks, and important manufactories > Part 38
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The second war with Great Britain, in 1812, so disturbed all business rela- tions, that Mr. Cross found himself at its close financially crushed; and the mother having some means in Ireland, and hoping for some aid from her family there to check the tide of misfortune, left her home to again cross the ocean in 1815, going and returning alone, but bringing means with her sufficient only to stay the rush downward for a time. After struggling on between hope and fear for a few years, they at last gave up all, and in 1822 removed to Bloomfield, Ontario county, where the father gave up the un-
equal contest in July, 1824, and sank to his rest. The sisters being married, and the two remaining sons being aged twenty-one and eighteen respectively, the family-home was broken up in the spring of 1825, Robert J. coming in June of that year to Tecumseh, Lenawee county, Michigan, and locating a farm, whither, in September, 1826, he and William removed and began their pioneer-life as bachelors-being their own cooks, housekeepers and washerwomen : sick at times and no one to care for them but the sympa- thizing settler miles away, perhaps, yet gaining a self-reliance that no school but that of bitter experience could give. For a year and a half theirs was the frontier cabin on the Raisin. In 1829, William transported a load of goods to Mottville, to the old trader, Elias Taylor, and looked first upon the prairies of the west. He hauled one thousand five hundred pounds of mer- chandise (mostly whisky), with two yoke of oxen, and was three weeks on the round trip. The view of Sturgis prairie so pleased the young man, that the brothers sold their lands on the Raisin, in June, 1830, and in the month of September following selected their farms at Coldwater (then the town of Greene, county of St. Joseph), being the east three quarters of section twenty-two.
In November following they built their second cabin, twelve by fourteen feet inside, with a sloping roof to the north, leaving the roof inside at the rear but six feet high. Here they spent two winters and one summer,haul- ing their supplies the first year from Tecumseh and Detroit. In the fall and winter of 1831-32, William built a log-house on his own farm, on the same ground now occupied by the mansion of Judge Loveridge, of Cold water.
But a bachelor's freedom could not always compensate for its other dis- advantages, and the pioneer met his fate at Tecumseh, where, on the 12th day of March, 1832, he surrendered his single-blessedness unconditionally to find a " more perfect union," and was united in marriage to Nancy, a daughter of John and Lydia Landon, of Ithaca, New York.
Scarcely six weeks had passed when the Black Hawk war, which had been raging in Illinois, reached Michigan in its effects, and the colonists were called to the defense of their own borders and to assist their brethren farther west, and the young bride was left with two others who had just passed the honeymoon with her (Mrs. Judge Harvey Warner and Mrs. James B. Tompkins), to alternate fears and hopes, while the young husband shoul- dered his rifle in obedience to the command of the State and the instincts of self-preservation.
But the cloud of war was soon dissipated by the capture of Black Hawk, and the young people were reunited in about three weeks ; and business, though seriously interferred with, recommenced again on the farm.
In June, 1835, Mr. Cross and his brother Robert sold their farms to an eastern company ; Robert going to Winnebago county, Illinois, and settling
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GLOVER LAIRD.
H. W. LAIRD
MRS. H. W. LAIRD.
RESIDENCE OF H. W. LAIRD, NOTTAWA & MENDON TP ST JOSEPH CO., MICH.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
on Rock River, where he died in 1873. Owing to the poor health of Mrs. Cross and her child, William, instead of going into a new country for a new beginning, concluded a partnership with Judge Silas A. Holbrook in the mercantile trade; but the crash of 1837 and "wild-cat " banking over- whelmed the new merchant and operator, and the means he had gathered as a farmer were scattered to the winds of heaven,-and the pioneer, penniless, but still undaunted, began again at the foot of the toilsome ascent, and pushed bravely onward, encouraged by the companion of his choice and nerved by the dependency of his little ones. But disappointments were yet in store for him, and many a promising golden apple of Hesperides turned to ashes in his grasp,-as contractor on the Michigan Central railroad, and the Fort Wayne and Michigan City canal, and as a forwarding and com- mission merchant in Hillsdale.
In 1845 he removed to Leonidas, St. Joseph county, and engaged in the mercantile trade again ; and in 1847 constructed the first dam across the St. Joseph river ever built in Michigan, but at a loss, for want of funds to complete the additional improvements necessary to utilize the really excel- lent water-power he had secured.
In 1851, the allurements of California proving too great to be resisted, Mr. Cross left his family for the new El Dorado, where for seven years he delved in the mines, led on by fickle fortune's flattering promises, which at times seemed just ready to become solid realities, only to be dissipated the next moment into nothing tangible.
In 1858 he returned to Leonidas, and was within a short time thereafter elected to the office of supervisor, a position he had held for the five years preceding his departure to California, and in which he continued until he secured an appointment, which was deemed inconsistent to be held with his former one.
Since that time, to 1872, he served the public in the various positions of as- sistant assessor of internal revenue, assistant United States provost-marshal, and postal clerk on the Michigan Southern and Lake Shore railroad.
In 1872 he was elected judge of probate of St. Joseph county, while a resident of Sturgis, but removed to Centreville the following summer, where he still resides.
In 1876 the Republicans renominated him unanimously to the same posi- tion, and he was re-elected, by the largest majority given to any candidate on the ticket, over his opponents on the Democratic and Greenback tickets. In fact it was difficult to find a man in those parties to run against him, several declaring they would not, but should vote for Judge Cross.
The tender and sympathizing nature of Judge Cross eminently fit him for the discharge of the delicate and arduous duties of his position, which brings him in contact with the widow and orphan, and charges him with the set- tlement of their estates and interests ; and it is currently stated that Judge Cross' tribunal is less a court for legal adjudications than an arbitration for the reconcilement of differences and difficulties between heirs. His suc- cess in that direction is most satisfactory to the parties who appear before him, as well as to himself.
A single incident will illustrate his manner of dealing with questions which, by a technical construction, there is no warrant for in the law.
" A lady dying, expressed a wish that a small portion of her estate might be appropriated by her administrator for a certain object, but left no will or written instrument to that effect. When the estate was settled the adminis- trator asked Judge Cross what he ought to do in the premises. The judge quietly said, ' What would you wish to have done if you were in her posi- tion, and she in yours?' 'Why, I should want my wishes carried out,' re- plied the administrator. 'Then as you would have others do for you, so do you do for her,' responded the judge, and the matter was ended."
His decisions, however, are good, for, with a single exception, not one of them has ever been reversed on appeal to the circuit or supreme court.
Judge Cross' political fealty was first pledged to the Whig party, and to it he remained true and steadfast till it disappeared, and then he gave in his adhesion to the new opponent of the Democratic party which rose in 1856, the Republican party, and has been a staunch, unbending partisan in its ranks to the present time.
Judge Cross united with the Presbyterian church in Coldwater in 1837, his wife joining a church of the same faith in Ithaca ten years before, and they have continued as members of kindred churches wherever their lot has been cast since that time, Mr. Cross having been an elder from the second year of his membership in Coldwater.
When Judge Cross resigned his position as postal-clerk, he was recalled to Toledo by the superintendent of that division of the service, and on his arrival found his fellow-clerks assembled in the superintendent's room, who proceeded, through that official, to present the judge with a gold-headed
cane, accompanied with a very complimentary expression of confidence and esteem.
Mrs. Cross was born in Ithaca, New York, on the 7th day of November, 1812, and removed to Tecumseh in 1828.
Five children gathered around the family hearthstone of Mr. and Mrs Cross,-one, the oldest, a son, and four daughters,-who, with the exception of one who is deceased, reside at and near the present homestead.
Mr. and Mrs. Cross have traveled life's pathway together forty-five years, mutually sharing its sorrows and its joys, and their heads are now silvered with the snows of nearly seventy winters, but with hearts so full of human kindness they ne'er grow old, and their eyes undimmed by naught save time, they are confidently walking in that " light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day."
GLOVER LAIRD.
The " gem of the sea," Ireland, sent one of her children to St. Joseph county among her early settlers, and his name was Glover Laird. He was proud of his name and his financial honor, and when the crash of 1837 hurled thousands into bankruptcy, and pinched fearfully thousands of others, he among the rest felt the stringency of the times deeply, and was most keenly alive to the mortification consequent upon his inability to meet his business engagements promptly and fully. One day a stranger accosted him, in- quiring if he was Glover Laird; Mr. Laird responded quickly, " My name was Glover Laird, but since these hard time have come on, and I am unable to meet the just demands against me, I think it will not be Glover Laird any longer."
Mr. Laird emigrated from his native land when a young man, and came to New York, and married a native of Connecticut, Samatha Wolcott by name. In 1820 he removed to Ohio to fix upon a site for business, having seven hundred dollars of the notes of the Mansfield Bank of that State on hand. He settled in southern Ohio, in Butler county, and after reaching his destination found his money was worthless, the bank having failed. Ten years afterward he came to Michigan, arriving on Nottawa prairie in Octo- ber, 1830, and located on section two in Nottawa township, adjoining the reservation on the south. In the spring of 1831 he built his cabin, and broke forty acres and fenced eighty.
In 1852 he sold his farm to his son, Henry W. Laird, and soon afterward lost his companion. He then returned to the east to visit his old friends at South Briton, Connecticut, where he met and married Miss Olive Hinman. He died in South Briton, March 22, 1872. His Irish nature made him a warm friend or an open opponent, and a cordial welcome was extended to all who came to his log-cabin home, at which the latch-string hung ever on the outside of the door. He was liberal to those in need, and his sympathies went out to all in difficulty and distress.
HENRY W. LAIRD.
The subject of this sketch, Henry W. Laird, or as he is familiarly called, " Harry " Laird, is a son of Glover Laird, a native of Ireland. He was born in Greene county, New York, October 14, 1812, and with his father migrated to Ohio in 1820, and from thence to Michigan in October, 1830. After assisting his father in breaking up forty acres and fencing eighty on section two in Nottawa township, in June, 1831, he returned to Ohio to attend school. In 1833 he came again to Nottawa, where he remained through the winter and returned to Ohio,-making similar journeys in 1835-36.
In 1837 Mr. Laird was married, and in 1852 he purchased his father's old homestead, whereon he still resides, a view of which we present to our readers on another page of our work. Since he purchased the old homestead he has made many improvements thereon, and has given his time mostly to agricultural pursuits. He is public-spirited and enterprising, and was efficient in securing the location of the Grand Rapids and Indiana railroad through the township, gaving much time and considerable money in aid of its construction. He is an active member of the pioneer society, and has been zealously engaged in gathering and writing a history of the Nottawa Indians for the same, from which we have quoted largely in our work elsewhere. Mr. Laird is a Republican in politics, but was formerly a Whig. He has held the office of county treasurer several terms, and was, in the old
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Whig days, the most popular candidate of that party. His creed is embodied in his motto, " No man should live for himself alone, but also for others."
Mrs. Laird is a native of Harford county, Maryland, and was born Feb- ruary 10, 1817, and has borne to her husband six boys and one girl, all now living.
ROBERT MCKINLAY.
At the close of a long and useful life it must be a pleasure to be able to transmit to our children and friends a comfortable fortune, more especially if it is accompanied by the fact that it has been acquired in an honorable manner, and if with it is connected the history of a long line of ancestry of honorable name and noble character.
As an instance of this we present the subject of this sketch,-Mr. Robert Mckinlay,-who was born at Killern, in Sterlingshire, Scotland, on the 27th day of October, 1797, and he is the descendant of a long line of the Saxon- Scotch race. His father, John McKinlay, was born and reared in the same town; was married, and reared a family of seven children,-three sons and four daughters,-of whom Robert was the youngest. Robert acquired the common English branches of an education at the parish-schools, and before he reached his majority had learned the trade of a stone-cutter. In the year 1820, at the age of twenty-two, he embarked for America in quest of a new home for himself and his father's family. He went to Quebec, and for the next four years worked at his trade in Canada and Vermont. During this time he located some land in Canada, which he afterwards disposed of. His mother died in 1822, and, two years after, his father's family, which con- sisted of his father, three sisters and a brother-in-law, embarked for the United States. They settled at Amsterdam, in the State of New York, where they continued to reside for many years. In the year 1837, at the home of his daughter in Jefferson county; the elder Mckinlay died at the extremely advanced age of ninety-two years.
In the year 1837 Robert was united in marriage to Miss Catharine Camp- bell, of Amsterdam, New York, a very worthy Scotch lady, whose family had emigrated to this county in 1829. In the year 1835 Robert, in common with many others, was seized with what was termed the "western fever," and came out to the wilds of Michigan in quest of an investment in wild lands. He visited Wayne county, where he located, and purchased five government lots, and then going farther west into St. Joseph county, he bought six government lots about three miles south of the county-seat. He then returned to New York, where he remained, engaged in the construction of bridges, locks and aqueducts on the Erie canal and its enlargement until 1843. In the fall of that year he removed with his family to St. Joseph county. In a few days after his arrival he had constructed a cheap frame house on his land in the forest, and moved his family into it, since which time he was engaged in clearing up his lands and farming. The family has continued to reside on the farm ever since, until 1871, when they removed into the village of Centreville, where they have since resided.
Mr. Mckinlay is the father of six children,-two sons and four daughters, -whose names are Elizabeth, Mary C., Catharine, John, Archibald and Amanda. Only three of the children are living at this time. One of the daughters is married, and resides in Canada. John and Amanda are at home with the old gentleman.
A sad event occurred on the 26th day of January, 1875, in the death of Archibald Mckinlay, whose mother was so overcome with grief that she only survived his untimely death two days, and mother and son were both buried on the 29th of January, 1875. This loved wife and life-long companion is still mourned by this venerable old gentleman and the bereaved children. She was born at Paisley, Scotland, on the 13th day of May, 1812. Mr. Robert Mckinlay is a true type of an old Scotch gentleman, and enjoys the confidence and esteem of all his friends and acquaintances, and the love and devotion of his children and relatives.
In politics he is a Republican, in religious faith Presbyterian. In the pages of this work we present a fine view of his farm-residence, and portrait of himself and his deceased wife.
JOHN W. FLETCHER.
In the year 1829, away out in the wilderness, far from the haunts of civ- ilized life, could have been seen a few sturdy young men engaged in cutting the logs and building a house on the spot now occupied by the Fletcher family, of Nottawa township, St. Joseph county.
John W. Fletcher was the first white man, who is living at this time, that struck a blow as a settler in the forests of St. Joseph county. He had, at the age of twenty, in 1826, in company with Captain Allen and George Hubbard, made a trip through the wilderness as far as the present town of Niles, and again in 1829, in company with his brother, he made another trip into the wilds of southern Michigan,-this time in quest of a desirable loca- tion for a home for himself and his father's family. He selected a quarter- section of government land near the present county-seat, on which he has ever since resided.
After entering his land at Monroe, he returned to the home of the family at Flat Rock, in Wayne county, near Detroit, and procuring a yoke of oxen, wagon, tools and provisions, returned to his recent purchase, following the Indian trail all the way.
After building a log-house and cutting a stack of hay, he returned, with his oxen and wagon, to fetch the family to their new home. A number of families came in company with them, thus forming the nucleus of quite a settlement.
The little colony were seventeen days on their tedious journey, arriving at their destination in the month of December, 1829. The Fletcher family consisted of the parents, two daughters and John W., the subject of this sketch.
They all lived together as one family for the first few years, and the parents continued to live with John W. until the day of their death,-Mr. Fletcher, the elder, dying in 1832, and his widow in 1860.
On the 18th of September, 1831, John W. Fletcher and Miss Sarah Knox, the daughter of a settler on Sturgis prairie, were united in marriage, and it is conceded that this was the first marriage of a couple who became perma- nent residents of the county. The products of the farm for the first few years were floated down the St. Joseph river in arks to its mouth in Lake Michigan, and there found a market, and in after years Hillsdale and Kal- amazoo became their market-towns.
Mr. Fletcher comes of the good old Revolutionary stock of the war for independence, being the son of William Fletcher, who was the son of William Fletcher who fought as a soldier all through the struggle that gave to the country liberty and independence, and to the world the Great Republic.
John W. was born at Otsego, New York, in the year 1806, and was one of a family of six children,-four sons and two daughters.
When our subject was ten years old his father emigrated to Ohio, where they remained until 1824, when they again emigrated, this time to the terri- tory of Michigan. They settled on the Huron river, near Detroit, from whence, as we have mentioned, they made a permanent settlement in St. Joseph
Mr. Fletcher is the father of ten children, nine of whom are living,-five sons and four daughters. Three of the daughters and two sons are married. The other children are at home with the old gentleman.
Mr. Fletcher and his wife have for many years been honored members of the Methodist Episcopal church. In politics he is a staunch Democrat and a strong advocate of the constitution and the maxims of our fathers. He is at this time president of the Pioneer society, in which he takes a deep in- terest. We take much pleasure in presenting to the people of St. Joseph county a fine view of the Fletcher homestead, with portraits of this old pioneer and his excellent wife.
THOMAS CUDDY.
As an example of what a life of industry and patient perseverance will do in the face of difficulties and discouragements in the building up of a com- fortable fortune and the formation of reputation and character in the in- dividual, we will mention the name of Mr. Thomas Cuddy, who was born in county Ulster, Ireland. His father died when he was eight years of age, and his mother when he was ten years of age, leaving him and an only sister to the care of his mother's sister, by whom the children were brought up on a farm, assisting in the farm-work and in a tannery, and, at intervals, attending the national school, where he obtained the rudiments of the common English branches.
At the age of twenty, by advice from his relatives in the United States, he, with his sister, embarked in June, 1849, for this country. They came direct to New York, and from thence to Nottawa prairie in St. Joseph county, where he had four uncles, who were among the early settlers of this region. He commenced for himself by working the farm of Mr. John Cuddy, his uncle. His sister kept house for him about ten years. She
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THO s. W. LANGLEY.
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HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
then married Mr. John Brown, of Allegan county, where she has since resided.
A short time previous Mr. Thomas Cuddy was married to Miss Catharine Mckinlay, daughter of Robert Mckinlay, an old settler near Centreville. This was in the spring of 1859. By this marriage he was the father of four children,-three sons and one daughter. One son and one daughter are living. The daughter is married ; the son is at home with his father.
In 1869 Mrs. Cuddy died, and thus created a vacancy in the home and a void in the heart of Mr. Cuddy.
In 1871 he was united to Miss Catharine Culbertson, of the same town, a worthy lady with whom he had been long acquainted. In religious faith he is Presbyterian, although not a member of any church organization. In politics, Democratic ; in social intercourse, kind and affable; and in all matters of public improvement, liberal and public-spirited ; in business deal- ings, shrewd and clear-headed,-and he is known as an honorable gentleman in all the relations of life. He is the owner of three hundred and sixty acres of the finest farming lands on Nottawa prairie, and three hundred and sixty acres also in the county of Allegan. He has a fine residence on the prairie, a view of which we present in this work, accompanied by the por- traits of himself and wife.
WILLIAM B. LANGLEY.
The subject of this sketch comes of a long line of English ancestry. His grandfather emigrated to New York city at an early day in its history, where he became a distinguished architect and builder. He built the theatre known for many years as the Old Bowery, the first City Bank in New York city and the first State capitol buildings at Albany, and many others of lesser note. He left at his death three children,-one son and two daughters. Thomas W. Langley, the son, served an apprenticeship in the woolen-manufacturing business, and at the age of twenty-one went into partnership with his brother- in-law at Germantown, near Philadelphia, and at the same time was con- nected with his mother in the mercantile trade, in the city of Philadelphia. He was married, in 1822, to Miss Margaret Stigman, of the same city, by whom he had seven children,-six sons and one daughter,-of whom Wil- liam B. Langley is the eldest. He was born at Germantown on the 9th day of June, 1823.
In the year 1832 Mr. Thomas W. Langley came to the territory of Mich- igan in quest of a location. He selected the site of the present town of Centreville, as the town had already been platted, and was owned by two or three individuals, of whom Mr. Langley purchased the entire prospective village. He also entered seven government lots, lying contiguous. He then returned to Philadelphia and closed up his business, and, with his family,. which consisted of himself and wife, six children, a nephew, and a couple of colored servants, started for the " far west."
At the same time he brought on the machinery and irons for a saw- and grist-mill, also a stock of dry-goods and groceries. He was for many years actively engaged in a variety of enterprises, such as farming, milling, dis- tilling, hotel-keeping and selling goods,-in all of which William B. Langley, our subject, actively assisted his father, attending the common-schools for the first years, and afterwards the academy at Canandaigua, New York ; also, for a short time, a military school at 'Bristol, Pennsylvania. When not at school he was at home, occupied with the varied duties of clerk in the store and post-office, and as a help upon the farm and in the mills.
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