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 47
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March 16, 1837, he married Caroline, daughter of John Peek, who had come into the township two years previously. This union was blessed with three children, namely : George E., born April 17, 1838, who married Sophia Hull, and resides in the township ; Annie E., born November 17, 1839, married Frederick A. Austin, and resides in Aurora, Illinois ; Frank, born July 16, 1849, married Alice Ennes, and resides with his parents.
For twenty-six years Mr. Roys faithfully served his township as super- visor,-first in 1839 and 1840, then in 1843, from 1846 to 1849, and from 1857 to 1877. This is a record of long continued fidelity to the interests of the people of his township, not surpassed in the State. For two terms he also served as a justice of the peace, and four years as school-inspector, with a like acceptability that has characterized his other office. Politically, Mr. Roys is a Democrat, though strongly adhering to the principles advocated by the Greenback party. A generous liberality governs his religious senti- ments ; he belongs to no sect, yet possesses the necessary Christian qualifica- tions of a good citizen. By his industry and economy he has accumulated a fair competence. He now owns two hundred and ten acres of well culti- vated land in Florence township, and also eighty acres of heavy timber in Fabius. His home is among the neatest and best in the township, as can be seen by examination of the illustration, elsewhere in this work.
Mrs. Roys, the estimable wife of Norman Roys, was born in Gorham, Ontario county, New York, May 2, 1821. She moved with her parents to Florence township, in 1835. Her father, John Peek, was a respectable mechanic and farmer, and her mother a daughter of John Garrison, one of the pioneers of Constantine township. For forty years Mrs. Roys has been a faithful and loving wife and a fond mother, which we believe constitutes the proudest and best record a woman can leave to her posterity and friends. The portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Roys, grace the pages of our work elsewhere.
GEORGE PASHBY, SR.,
was born in the village of Brantingham, Yorkshire, England, on the 10th day of September, 1802, and is consequently now in his seventy-fifth year. He attended school for a very brief period only, in his native place, and laid the foundation of a common education, which future years of travel and observation have developed into sound, practical knowledge. After attain- ing his majority, he left home and proceeded to Sunderland, where he embarked as a sailor, and, after a fair voyage, landed in the city of New York, on the 16th day of June, 1824, where he remained until the spring of 1828. On the 9th day of February of that year, he was united in marriage with Mary Watson, who had but recently arrived from the shores of "merry England." This union was blessed with two children, Elizabeth, born March 24, 1829, and now the wife of Samuel Stears, of Florence township, and Robert, born May 19, 1831, who died November 18, 1854, soon after returning from California, whither he went in 1851.
On the 6th day of May, 1834, Mr. Pashby sustained the greatest misfor- tune of his life, the loss of the partner of his early struggles, joys and sorrows. In August of the same year, he removed from New York state,
with the intention of making a permanent settlement in the west. He jour- neyed with teams, and at the expiration of seventeen days arrived at White Pigeon, on the morning of the 11th day of September, 1834. He proceeded at once to Kalamazoo, and entered eighty acres of land, located on section twenty of Florence township, paying the nominal sum of one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre. On this he erected his log cabin, which he sub- sequently disposed of. By prudence and economy, coupled with an untiring industry, he has been able to add, by subsequent purchases to his posses- sions, until he now owns three hundred and sixty-four acres of improved land in the same township.
On the 25th day of July, 1835, Mr. Pashby married Jane Cook, a niece of Rev. George Cook, M. A., Fellow of St. John's College. Cambridge, England, a well known and eloquent divine of the Episcopal church, who preached the funeral sermon over the remains of Lord Nelson, in 1805. By this marriage he had nine children, of which number, five-two sons and three daughters-are living. On the 9th day of October, 1865, after a second term of conjugal happiness, extending over a period of thirty years, death again visited his household and took from him his wife, leaving him with a growing family ; and, looking at the event in a Christian light, he thought of the Scriptural injunction, "It is not good for man to be alone," and on the 19th day of July, 1865, he married Mrs. E. C. Scholey, a sister of his deceased wife, who had been before in his household, and to whom his children had become greatly attached. He had the rare felicity of getting an admirable wife, a second mother to his children, a good house- keeper, and an excellent lady in every particular.
Mr. Pashby has never sought political preferment of any kind, but, not- withstanding this fact, he has been elected to fill several township offices. He was also chosen a director in the Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company, of St. Joseph county, at its organization, and held that office for eleven years. He finally resigned, finding the duties of the office too arduous for his advanced age.
In religion Mr. Pashby is allied to no particular creed. He was brought up and confirmed in the church of England, but has never actually joined any denomination. He has, however, always generously supported every movement of a religious or benevolent nature. His donations towards the equipment of the soldiers who went from his township to the war, are a fair criterion of his philanthropy.
Mr. Pashby has, by judicious financial management, accumulated a goodly fortune, and is now calmly enjoying the fruits of his industrious and well- spent life. His residence is among the finest in the county, and is alike an ornament to the township in which he resides, and an honor to its possessor.
Perhaps there could be no fitter evidence of the benefit which Mr. Pashby's settlement has brought to the township, than the fact that there are now seven families who bear his name in Florence township, and in Black Hawk county, Iowa, four. He has twenty-seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Pashby adorn our pages, together with an illustration of their beautiful home.
JACOB GENTZLER,
son of George and Margaret Gentzler, was born in York county, Pennsylva- nia, December 16, 1798. He always followed farming for a living ; he was married to Miss Elizabeth Speck, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1819 ; she was born January 14, 1800. Ten children have been born to them, eight of whom are still living.
October 10, 1849, he emigrated to Michigan, and settled in Florence, and in a few years he was the owner of sixteen hundred acres of as good land as there is in the county, most of which is still owned by members of the family. In politics he was a Democrat; in religion he was a worthy member of the Evangelical Lutheran church, and for more than twenty-five years previous to his coming to Michigan, was a leader of a choir. He died May 16, 1871, and was buried in the White Pigeon cemetery. The widow is seventy-seven years of age, and is living with her son William, in Florence.
Jacob S. Gentzler, son of Jacob, Sr., was born in York county, Pennsyl- vania, September 29, 1833, and came to St. Joseph with his father. While in Pennsylvania he assisted his father in the carding and woolen business, and since, has been principally engaged in farming and dealing in live-stock; is the owner of a fine farm of four hundred and sixty acres, a view of which may be seen elsewhere. He married Miss Elizabeth Lehmer, of York county, Pennsylvania, April 27, 1854; she was born March 12, 1835; five children have been born to them, two of whom are still living. In politics Mr. Gentzler is a Democrat, and is an advocate of good schools and churches.
MRS. GEO. PASHBY, (1st)
MRS. GEO. PASHBY (2ยช;
GEORGE PASHRY .
RESIDENCE OF GEORGE PASHBY, FLORENCE TP. ST JOSEPH CO., MICH.
HIRAM. PITTS
MRS. HIRAM PITTS.
RESIDENCE OF THE LATE HIRAM A. PITTS, FLORENCE TP, ST JOSEPH Co., MICH.
137
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
HIRAM AMASA PITTS.
Hiram Amasa Pitts was born in the township of Onondaga, Onondaga county, in the State of New York, November 11, 1818. He moved with his parents to Monroe, in this State, in October, 1832, and in August, 1835, they came to St. Joseph county and settled in the township of Florence, where the subject of this biography resided until his death, which occured December 25, 1874, at the age of fifty-six.
He was married, December 14, 1848, to Eliza Thompson, a native of the State of Vermont, but at the time of their marriage, a resident of Sherman, in this county.
He purchased the farm upon which he resided, in 1846, on section twelve, township seven south, range eleven west, where he erected a fine brick dwelling with good and substantial out-buildings, the present residence of Mrs. Pitts, his widow.
Mr. Pitts enjoyed the confidence of the people in his township, having been elected to responsible offices frequently during his life-time. He ex- hibited an interest in education, and was untiring in his efforts to establish schools in his township, having been a school-officer in the district where he lived continuously until his death. He was kind and obliging to his neighbors, and always ready to lend a helping hand to the needy and worthy poor. Being an early pioneer in Florence,-even before the township was organ- ized,-he assisted in forming school-districts, laying out highways and all other important work in the interest of the township. As a citizen of the county he was a useful man, and rendered the people many important services.
WILLIAM MACHIN.
It is a pleasure to record the experience, and incidents in the life of a worthy and successful man, who, unassisted, began its battles in days and
amid surroundings, that afforded no opportunities to secure even the rudi- ments of an education, and whose boyhood and youth were spent amid de- privations that are strangers to our day.
Mr. Machin, the subject of this sketch, was born at Basby, England, April 7, 1813, and by industry and economy was enabled, at the age of twenty-five, to provide a home for himself and wife. He was married in Walcott, England, to Elizabeth Girton, May 15, 1838, she being his play- mate in childhood, friend in youth, and advisor in early manhood. Chil- dren blessed their union :
MARY, born February 12, 1839.
JOHN, October 7, 1842. WILLIAM, May 27, 1844.
ANN M. and JOSEPH, January 31, 1847.
Desiring to better the condition of his family, and give them an opportu- nity to secure homes not attainable with their small capital in England, he emigrated in 1851 to America. Delayed by a year's sickness, at Brockport, New York, he arrived in Florence township, St. Joseph county, his capital exhausted; and, with only one dollar, with which to begin again, commenced to labor for a home. Assisted by a kind friend-George Pashby, an honor to mankind !- he was enabled soon to realize his expectations. By diligence and economy, assisted by his noble wife, he secured for himself a fine home, and lived to see his children comfortably located.
In early life he became a member of the Wesleyn Methodist church. His adopted country found in him a faithful citizen, and his chosen Republican party, an earnest supporter.
He died February 23, 1871, and we do simple justice to the memory of the man by showing his portrait in connection with this history, believing that in his record many things may be learned, of practical value to those who follow after.
LOCKPORT.
The surface of the township of Lockport (so called from the extensive water-power projected on the St. Joseph river in that township), was origin- ally covered with heavy burr-oak and white-oak openings, with heavy- timbered lands along the river St. Joseph, which passes through the town- ship from northeast to southwest. Its area includes twenty-two thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven acres of land, and one hundred and twenty acres of water surface. It is known on the government surveys as township six south of range eleven west, and is bounded north by Park, east by Nottawa, south by Florence, and west by Fabius townships. Its soil is the same that characterizes the oak-openings in other parts of the county,-a fertile, sandy loam capable of producing large crops of the cereals, corn, fruit, and vegetables. Its drainage is superb, being watered favorably by streams bordered by high bluffs; and very little or no marsh lands are found within its limits. The surface is a general level, rolling more or less as it lies contiguous to the St. Joseph. The St. Joseph river enters the township on the southeast quarter of section one, and meanders very eccen- trically through the township, passing out therefrom on the southwest quarter of section thirty. The Portage, a very considerable stream, enters the township from Park on the north line of the northeast quarter of section four, and, running southwestward, forms a junction with the St. Joseph at the city of Three Rivers. The Rocky river enters the township within the cor- porate limits of Three Rivers, and unites with the St. Joseph just below the junction of the Portage. Hog creek enters the township on the east line of the southwest quarter of section twenty-four, and runs southwest and westwardly, emptying into the St. Joseph on the southwest quarter of section thirty. A portion of Fisher's lake lies within the township, on the northeast quarter of section three.
FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
The first settlement made within the present limits of the township was that of Jacob McInterfer and his family, in the spring of 1829. He came first to look for a location, in 1828, and selected a square mile of land on the west side of Rocky river, on a portion of which the third ward of Three Rivers is located, and returning to his home in Wayne county, Ohio, came back in the spring following, in company with the Rowens, Armstrongs, and Davises, his neighbors, all of whom settled in Mottville township but himself. He had no shelter for his family, which consisted of several children and his wife (two or more daughters being among the number), save his wagons, and in them they lived, cooking in an improvised shanty, put up between two trees, until he could build a house, which he proceeded immediately to do, erect- ing a substantial hewed-log house on the present site of Elisha Millard's barn. Mr. McInterfer died in 1831. The next settlers who came into the township were George Buck and his family, who located in the spring of 1830 on the present site of the second ward of Three Rivers, north of the prairies of White Pigeon and Sturgis, where he put up a double log house, and opened the first tavern in the township. This house was the resort of the people of the county in their political gatherings, and the first conven- tion ever held in the county was convened in this house, and Mrs. Buck, unaided by other female help, prepared a bountiful dinner for seventy-five guests.
Charles B. Fitch, afterwards judge of the county court, located in the township in 1831, coming in from his first location on White Pigeon prairie a year before. His location was made on section thirty-one, where he entered two hundred acres, including a valuable mill-privilege on Hog
138
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
creek, which he immediately proceeded to utilize. His son (Samuel Fitch) is still a resident of the township.
Mishael Beadle located on the west side of the Rocky, buying McInter- fer's mill-privilege thereon, in 1831 (the latter part of the year), and completed the mill, the erection of which was begun by McInterfer, and suspended by reason of his death. In 1833 John H. Bowman came to look at the mill-privileges at the junction of the three rivers, but did not finally bring his family until 1834, though he made his location, during his first visit, between the rivers, and proceeded to enter other lands, which he culti- vated. Philip H. Hoffman, with his family of seven children, located in the township, in September, 1833, on the present site of the first ward of Three Rivers; Borden Hicks located about the same time, on the river. Mr. Hoffman was an extensive farmer, and came from Pennsylvania; as did also Mr. Bowman. Eli Bristol came in 1834-35, and located; and Bur- roughs Moore in 1833. William Arney came in 1833. Mr. John Hoffman (a son of P. H. Hoffman ) is a heavy manufacturer in Three Rivers. The Wolf brothers came in with their father, from Pennsylvania, in 1834; he located three hundred and twenty acres on section twenty-seven. Joseph P. Sterling came in 1835, and A. C. Prutzman in 1834, but the latter, with Edward S. Moore, first located on Prairie Ronde. Joseph B. Millard came in 1836, and Elisha Millard in 1835. John M. Leland first came in 1833 ; made his location in the northeast corner of the township, and brought his family thereto in the summer of 1834. His purchase was made on sec- tions two and eleven. The family lived in their wagons during the summer of 1834, the beds thereof, with the covers, being taken from the running-gear and set on logs, and a shanty built (supported by two trees for posts) to cook in. Soon after the shanty was occupied, a furious storm arose, and the trees were so rudely shaken that the shanty had to be re-built and the tree-tops cut off to reduce their swaying. Hezekiah Weatherbee was an early comer to the township. Jonas and Leonard Fisher came from Pennsylvania in 1834, in the spring, and located on the shore of the lake that subsequently took their name. William Armitage came in 1836, and Charles F. Thoms, a Swiss soldier in the first Napoleon's army, with his two sons, now living in the township, came in in 1834. George W. Gardner came in 1835, and J. H. Gardner in 1836. Andrew Goode came in 1834-35, and is still a resi- dent on his first location. George Leland and Washington Gascon came in with John M. Leland and his family in 1834. The Majors (William and John I.) came in 1834.
The foregoing were prominent among the earlier settlers in the township, and their representatives (with the exception of, perhaps, the MeInterfer fam- ily,) are living in the township to-day, and many of the very individuals themselves. McInterfer, Buck, Fitch, Beadle, Bowman, Hoffman, Arney, Burroughs, Moore, John M. Leland, Armitage, and Thoms have gone to rest beneath the turf they once trod upon in vigorous stride, but their descend- ants still live, on their old homesteads mostly, treasuring up the memories of these sturdy old pioneers, and building upon the foundations they laid.
THE FIRST FARM
opened was that of Jacob McInterfer, who put in a crop of corn and pota- toes in the spring of 1829. George Buck followed with a crop in 1830. Small tracts of these first fields were cleared from the forest growth by hard labor. Philip H. Hoffman cleared and broke up five acres only, in 1833, and planted corn, potatoes, and buckwheat, and the second year cleared and plowed ten acres more.
The first entries of public lands in the township were made in the year 1829, and were as follows : June 13, southwest quarter and west half of the northwest quarter of section eighteen, two hundred and thirty-eight acres, by Jacob McInterfer ; southeast quarter fraction of section eighteen by Robert Clark, Jr., C. Noble, H. L. and A. C. Stewart ; north fraction of the north- west quarter of section nineteen by William Rowen ; southwest quarter and south half of the northwest quarter of section nineteen by Abraham Reich- ert. These include all of the entries of 1829. There were assessed in 1876 twenty thousand and thirty-three acres of land.
The crop of 1873 yielded: wheat, forty thousand seven hundred and fifteen bushels; corn, sixty thousand nine hundred and forty-five bushels; other grain, two thousand and ninety bushels ; potatoes, seven thousand and twenty-six bushels ; hay, one thousand four hundred and twelve tons; wool, eight thou- sand five hundred and eleven pounds; pork, one hundred and twenty-five thousand eight hundred and ten pounds; butter, twenty-eight thousand nine hundred and fifty pounds ; dried fruit, one thousand two hundred pounds ; cider, four hundred and ninety barrels. The acreage of 1873 in wheat was four thousand two hundred and ninety-eight acres, and corn two thousand three hundred and nineteen. Four hundred and eight acres in
orchards and gardens produced nine thousand seven hundred bushels of apples, and forty-five bushels of other fruit, valued at five thousand three hundred and ninety-seven dollars.
There were owned in the township five hundred and thirty-one horses, nine mules, six oxen, four hundred and eleven cows, two hundred and seventy-nine other cattle, eleven hundred and ninety hogs, and two thousand and fifty-six sheep.
THE FIRST FRUIT-TREES
were planted by George Buck, the same being apple-trees. Hoffman planted peach-stones in 1833, and a few years later he gathered an abundance of delicious fruit from the trees which they produced. They froze down, how- ever, several years afterwards, and though they sprouted again and bore for a short time, were finally winter-killed and destroyed.
William Arney set out an orchard in 1834, on the farm now owned by D. Francisco.
THE FIRST IMPROVED FARM MACHINERY
was introduced in 1835, in the form of fanning-mills and open cylinders, the latter being made by John M. Leland. Mr. Leland subsequently manufac- tured reapers, and introduced them into the township in 1843-4.
LIVE STOCK
began to be improved but little until after 1860, though sheep and horses had received attention before, to some extent. The cultivation of the soil is the main business of the farmers of this township; but little attention is paid to stock-raising, that is, of the improved breeds. A great feature of the farming in this township is the
MINT-OIL PRODUCTION,
which is fast rivaling that of Florence. D. Francisco, now a resident of Three Rivers, was for many years a heavy producer and dealer in essential oils. He began the cultivation of peppermint in 1848, and has had one hundred to one hundred and ten acres in the herb in a season. He has sold the oil from five dollars per pound down to one hollar and fifty cents for the same quantity, and thinks oil at two dollars per pound a better crop than wheat at one dollar per bushel. His sales amounted to eighteen thousand dollars in one term of three years.
Wolf Brothers are the leading producers of the present day, and have, besides peppermint, the largest field of wormwood in the world, and the largest field of spearmint in the county.
THE MANUFACTURES,
outside of Three Rivers, of moment, were the mills of Judge Fitch at his little city of Eschol, where, in 1831, he began the erection of a saw-mill, completing the same in 1832, and afterwards putting in a small pair of stones for gristing purposes. Subsequently, in 1838, a carding-machine was added by R. M. Welch, and a shingle-mill, and for a time Eschol was a promising hamlet, but the tide of trade set towards Three Rivers, and ebbed slowly away from Eschol, and after 1840 the dam went out of the creek, the buildings fell into decay and were never rebuilt, and Eschol village-plat reverted to farming-lands, and the town was no more.
John M. Leland built a saw-mill in the year 1834 on his farm ; a natural embankment being formed by the bluff banks of thestream on which it was built, sweeping around and almost meeting at the lower end of a swale which he flooded for his mill-pond.
His dam went out two or three times before he built it in its present situ- ation. The log carriage in this mill is run by friction and not by cogs or gearing.
A large cedar was cut down by the side of the mill and taken to the Cen- tennial Exhibition as a specimen of the red-cedar of Michigan. It was the largest tree of the variety, that could be found in the State, and measured over three feet across the stump.
Mr. Leland built his reapers and threshing-machines here, and a fine mansion has succeeded to the pioneer-cabin. He died a few years ago.
THE FIRST HOUSE
built in the township was the hewed-log house of Jacob McInterfer, erec- ted in 1829. Mishael Beadle built the first frame house on the west side of the Rocky in 1832, and a frame store-house near the present bridge in Three Rivers, on the St. Joseph, in 1833.
THE FIRST BRICK HOUSE
was built in Three Rivers by John Young, and is now a portion of the store- building of Mr. Bennett.
RESIDENCE OF J. B. MILLARD, SEC. 19. THREE RIVERS, MICHIGAN
139
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
THE FIRST WHITE CHILD
born in the township, was a little daughter of Solomon McInterfer, who was born in November, 1829, and died soon after, being also
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