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 77
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Private George W. Doan, Company K ; mustered-out.
Private Justin B. Doan, Company K ; mustered-out.
Private James M. Dawley, Company K ; killed at Chattanooga.
Private Elisha Dawley, Company K ; mustered-out.
Private George Finnister, Company K ; mustered-out.
Private Charles H. Greene, Company K ; mustered-out.
Private James M. Huff, Company K ; mustered-out.
Private Peter R. Hall, Company K; mustered-out.
Private Andrew Hughes, Company K ; mustered-out. Private Daniel W. Miner, Company K; mustered-out.
Private Charles M. Rose, Company K; mustered-out.
Private Hiram G. Stickney, Company K; died October 9, 1862.
Private Elisha E. Woodward, Company K; mustered-out.
Private George W. Wing, Company K; mustered-out.
Private Ira J. White, Company K ; mustered-out. Private John B. Wing, Company K ; mustered-out. Private Peter Vandebogart, Company K ; mustered-out. Private Martin Summiller, Company K; died. Private Charles Z. Miller, Company K; died at Nicholasville, Kentucky, December 13, 1862. TWENTY-FIFTH INFANTRY.
Private Frank Hendrickson, Company G; discharged. Private Charles F. Johnson, Company G ; discharged.
TWENTY-EIGHTH INFANTRY.
Private Cortlandt Chapman, Company C; mustered-out.
Private George Chapman, Company C; mustered-out. Private John Libhart, Company C; mustered-out.
Private William I. Smalley, Company C; mustered-out. Private I. Libhart, Company C; mustered-out.
THIRD CAVALRY.
Private Charles Huff, Company I; died at St. Louis. Private Samuel Johnson, Company A ; mustered-out.
2
THE WAKEMAN BROTHERS.
AMONG the heaviest farmers of Nottawa Prairie, the Wakeman brothers, Mark H., Adams, and Hiram, stand in the foreground. The brothers owned at one time over twelve hundred acres in the townships of Nottawa and Mendon, and the farms now owned by Hiram and the estate of Mark number ten hundred and forty-nine acres. They were the first to introduce blooded cattle into the county. from which the improvement of that variety of stock began in St. Joseph. The first reaper introduced into the county was first operated on their farm in 1945.
MARK HOAG WAKEMAN
was the oldest of the brothers, and the leader in all of their enterprises while he lived. He was born in August, 1799, in Bedford, West- chester county, New York. In 1818 he went to Savannah, Georgia, and engaged in the wholesale hat and shoe business, in which he continued successfully for several years. He sold out his business in Savannah, and went to New Orleans in 1834, and engaged in the ship chandlery business with a person named Palms, and in 1836 the establishment was burned, entailing a loss of forty thousand dollars. That year he came to St. Joseph County, Michigan, whither his brothers had preceded him, and entered into business with them in farming and stock raising extensively, in which connection he remained until his death, which occurred in June, 1866. Mr. Wakeman was married in 1856 to Annette Anderson, who died before her husband. By this marriage two children were born. -Mary, who now lives with Hiram, her uncle, and Alice, who died while a child.
M. H. WAKEMAN.
ADAMS WAKEMAN
was the first of the brothers to locate in St. Joseph County, whither he came in the fall of 1833. He located his first tract of land on Section 4, in Nottawa township, on the prairie, buying two hundred and forty acres the same fall. He was born in Bedford, Westchester county, New York, December 1, 1804. On July 1, 1836, he was united in marriage with Mrs. Eliza Hartley, of Philadelphia, but who removed from thence to Centreville, St. Joseph County, in October, 1832, being a member of the first family which settled in that village, that of T. W. Langley. Mrs. Wakeman died in the year 1845. In March, 1857, after a lonely life of twelve years, Mr. Wakeman took to himself another companion,-Mrs. Susan B. Reeves,-by whom two children were born,-Belle and Jessie,-both of whom have passed away from all suffering and care, leaving behind them naught but pleasing memories. In 1855 Adams sold his interest in the farming business to his brothers, and removed to the village of Mendon, and entered into a business co-partnership with E. L. Yaple in the dry goods and grocery line, the firm building the present store of Lewis, Van Ness & Co. The partnership continued three years, when Mr. Wakeman bought the interest of SCATTERCOOD his partner, Yaple, and formed a new connec- tion with Charles H. Lewis, the firm being Wakeman & Lewis, which continued three years, at the end of which time William Harrington came into the firm, that part- nership continuing for four years, when Mr. Wakeman and Harrington closed their connection with the firm. Wakeman then gave his attention to manufac- turing, owning and operating the saw-mill for some seven years. He also built the Western Hotel, which was burned in 1873. Mr. Wakeman at once proceeded to rebuild the hotel, the present fine building known as the Wakeman House, a view of which we present to our readers on another page of our work. He also assisted in the building of the flouring-mill in Mendon, and is now the proprietor of the same. He is also largely interested in the stave and heading factory, which is doing a thriving business in the village. In June, 1876, the lease of the hotel expiring, Mr. Wakeman took charge of it, and, under the management of W. M. Marantette, it is at this writing conducted in an admirable and satisfactory manner.
HIRAM WAKEMAN,
the sole representative of the farming interest of the brothers, was born in Carmel, Putnamı county, New York, in October, 1808, and was married to Miss Sarah Jewett on the 9th day of December, 1840. He removed to Nottawa township with his fam- ily in the fall of 1834, keeping the house on the original location for a time. One child was born to Mr. and Mrs. Wakeman, which died in infancy.
The parents of these brothers were David and Elizabeth Wake- man, of Delaware county, New York. The brothers were mem- bers of the Whig party, and after that party was succeeded by the Republican organization they became zealous partisans in the latter, the surviving brothers still remaining members of the same. The brothers gave their attention wholly to their private business, and only played the honorable part of the private citizen in politics. In religious sentiment, the brothers were of the liberal"school of doctrine.
HIRAM WAKEMAN.
ADAMS WAKEMAN.
227
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
EIGHTH CAVALRY.
Private Alfred Levere, Company K; mustered-out.
Private Charles Ney, Company K ; mustered-out.
Private Oliver Neddo, Company K; mustered-out.
Private Franklin Neddo, Company K; mustered-out. NINTH CAVALRY.
Private Francis M. Cleveland, Company E; mustered-out.
Private Thomas L. Miles, Company E; discharged for disability.
Private Charles H. Brown, Company G ; mustered-out.
Private Abner Tuttle, Company K ; died at Marietta, Georgia. Private Jerome Brown, Company K; mustered-out.
Private Francis Moutan, Company K; mustered-out. Private James Auten, Company K; mustered-out.
Private Samuel Methey, Company K; mustered-out. Private Charles Scott, Company K; mustered-out. Private Daniel Baker, Company K; died in Libby Prison, Richmond.
Private Alfred Butler, Company K.
Private Alanson L. Mason, Company E; Seventh veteran reserve corps. FIRST LIGHT ARTILLERY.
Private William H. Stevens, Battery F; mustered-out.
Private George R. Stevens, Battery K; mustered-out.
Private William G. Cook, Battery L; mustered-out. Private Samuel T. Watkins, Battery L; mustered-out.
FIRST MICHIGAN SHARP-SHOOTERS.
J. Baker, Company H; mustered-out.
Joel Rose, Company H; mustered-out.
ONE HUNDRED AND SECOND U. S. COLORED TROOPS.
Private Cornelius Brown, Company B; died at Beaufort, South Carolina. PROVOST-GUARD.
Mahlon Huff; mustered-out.
Isaac Huff, Jr. ; mustered-out.
John Reemer ; mustered-out.
Private Frank M. Tuttle, Forty-fourth Illinois; mustered-out.
THIRTY-SEVENTH ILLINOIS. Private Charles Dukitte, Company C; re-enlisted, and mustered-out.
We tender our acknowledgments for assistance received in the compila- tion of the history of Mendon, to Hon. P. Marantette, A. H. Voorhees, Esq., Adams Wakeman, Esq., G. P. Doan, Esq., O. J. Fast, Esq., Charles H. Lewis, Esq., Dr. Edwin Stewart, Lentulus Huntley, Esq., A. P. Emery Esq., A. M. Leland, Esq., and others.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.
LONGAC
-CO
MR. WILLIAM HARRINGTON.
MRS. WILLIAM HARRINGTON.
WILLIAM HARRINGTON
was born in Utica, New York, April 15, 1812. He was a son of John and Asenath (Marvin) Harrington, with whom he removed, when fifteen years of age, to Akron, Ohio, where he resided until 1834, when he migrated to St. Joseph county, Michigan, and located on Nottawa prairie within the present limits of the township of Mendon. He attended the district-school in Utica until his removal to Ohio, from which time he was thrown upon his own resources for his support. He followed the business of farming in Mendon, Nottawa and Leonidas, and also the business of hotel-keeper in Centreville, and in Pawpaw, Van Buren county.
In 1855 he was elected sheriff of St. Joseph county, which position he held for four years ending December 31, 1858. From the fall of 1861 to the close of the year 1865, he was a member of the mercantile firm of Wake- man, Lewis & Co., of Mendon, who were the leading merchants of that vil- lage during that period. He was postmaster, also, of Mendon for a time, and justice of the peace for several years.
On the 19th day of January, 1840, Mr. Harrington married Lydia A., daughter of Moses Taft, one of Mendon's earliest, as well as worthiest citi- zens. Mrs. Harrington was born in Ellicutt, Chautauqua county, New York, November 18, 1820, and removed with her father to Mendon in the year 1835. No children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Harrington.
In politics Mr. Harrington acted with the Whig, and afterwards with the Republican party from its organization till his death.
Mr. and Mrs. Harrington were members of the Protestant Episcopal church of Mendon, and were confirmed January 6, 1867, by Bishop Mc- Crosky ; and Mr. Harrington died in its communion on the 12th day of October, 1873. He was a member of Mount Hermon Lodge, A. F. and A. M., of Centreville, also a member of Centreville Chapter, R. A. M., and Co- lumbia Commandery of Knights Templar of Sturgis, and the esteem in which he was held by his companions of the Masonic brotherhood will be seen by the following resolution adopted, with others, by Centreville Chap- ter, expressive of the sentiments of the members toward him on his decease. The committee of the chapter were: Judges J. Eastman Johnson, S. C. Coffinberry, and Samuel Frankish, who paid their deceased brother the fol- lowing tribute :
"Companion Harrington was among the very best known men in this county. He possessed a very sanguine temperament ; was endowed with a remarkable degree of energy of character ; and in his emotional nature was full of the keenest and kindest sensibilities. He was one of nature's nobility, and ever ready to extend the hand of charity to the needy. * * *
"A man of his activities, of course, had faults,-it would be strange if he had not,-but whatever they were, they were far over-balanced by hisamen- ities, his grand and noble sentiments, his firmness in adhering to what he thought was right, his active benevolence, and his Christian demeanor."
228
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
LONGACBRED
MR. JOHN HOLDEN.
LONDAOBE
MRS. JOHN HOLDEN.
JOHN HOLDEN.
The old geographies used to declare that the chief products of Vermont were men and good horses. We present a sketch of one of those products in the person of John Holden, who was born in Sunderland, Bennington county, May 3, 1801, and removed in infancy to Arlington, in the same State, where he resided until 1838. He was the son of John and Abigail (Chipman) Holden. His father's business was that of a farmer and brick- mason. John attended the district school in Arlington for a time, after which he worked by the month from an early age till twenty-three years old, when he followed the trade of a shoemaker, which he had previously learned.
June 25, 1838, he located in Pavilion township, Kalamazoo county, Michigan, two uncles on his mother's side having previously settled there, one of whom died, leaving his family to his nephew to care for in a great measure, and which care was most faithfully given. One of the sons has been in the United States treasury department since 1862.
Mr. Holden resided in Pavilion township twelve years, and then removed to Climax township, and from thence removed to Mendon, in 1867, where he has since resided. Besides his farming operations he followed his trade at shoemaking in the winter season for a time, walking to Kalamazoo and back every week, a distance of sixteen miles each way, and making twelve pairs of shoes per week. He has acquired, by steady industry and frugal habits, a comfortable competency, and is enjoying a respite from active labor now in his old days.
On the 9th day of September, 1824, he married Mrs. Laura (Hard) Can- field, in Arlington, Vermont, a daughter of Nobles Hard, of that place. She was born in October, 1794. By her he had born to him two children, Sarah, now Mrs. Nelson Eldred, a prominent citizen of Battle Creek, and John Nobles, who died in infancy soon after his removal to Michigan. Mrs. Holden died in Arlington, June 19, 1828.
Mr. Holden was again married on May 2, 1831, to Phebe, daughter of Roswell Webster, of Arlington, who was born February 22, 1811. The fruits of this marriage were: Frances Amelia, now the wife of Dr. Edw. Stewart, one of Mendon's most enterprising citizens ; Clarissa A., now Mrs. Levi Wilson, of Galesburg, Michigan, and Phebe M., now Mrs. Hiram F. Husted, of Nebraska. .
In politics Mr. Holden has been a member of the Whig and Republican parties, and is still connected with the latter organization. .
Mr. Holden and his former and present wife were all members of the Protestant Episcopal church, and were confirmed when sixteen years old by Bishop Griswold, whose diocese, at the time, included all New England except Connecticut.
Mr. Holden was one of the justices of the peace in Kalamazoo county, for twelve years, but he gave his efforts more to settle difficulties between individuals, than to try lawsuits engendered by those difficulties, and rarely failed to effect a just settlement. A life of general usefulness has been his, and it is now crowned with years of honor, backward upon which he may look with pleasure and satisfaction.
AARON P. EMERY.
The subject of this sketch is one of the leading agriculturists of Mendon, and the heaviest mint-producer in the township. Aaron P. Emery was born in Upper Mount Bethel, Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, November 3, 1832. He was the oldest child of Philip S. and Elizabeth (Miller) Emery, with whom he lived until the year 1853, when he came to St. Joseph county, Michigan, and remained till the spring of 1854, at which time he returned to finish his studies at Belvidere, New Jersey, where he was educated for sur- veying and the profession of a teacher, which professions he followed, more or less, until 1860. In 1855 he returned to St. Joseph county and bought a portion of the tract of land on which he now resides, on sections seventeen and eighteen. He now owns two hundred acres in his homestead, all under cultivation, with convenient dwelling and spacious barns thereon, a view of which we present on another page. He owns, besides his homestead, large tracts elsewhere. He began the cultivation of peppermint and its distillation in 1867, and has made that business a specialty ever since ; being now, also, a heavy dealer in the oil.
On the 10th day of March, 1855, Mr. Emery was united in marriage to Elizabeth J., a daughter of John Hutchinson, of Park township, a pioneer of 1834. She was born June 8, 1838, being among the first white children born in that township. Her mother's maiden name was Caroline Krader, of Bucks county, Pennsylvania. The children of this marriage were Emma E., who died in 1875, aged eighteen years, Lewis, Alice, Georgia, Charlotte, and Ella, all of whom are living at home with their parents. Mr. Emery has held the office of supervisor of Mendon for two terms, the last one just closing; and notwithstanding that he is, and always has been, a Democrat in politics, and Mendon is a Republican town, yet he was elected by a hand- some majority at his second election. He was also re-elected in 1877.
Mr. and Mrs. Emery are both members of the Methodist church of West Mendon, for the building up of which society and erection of the neat church Mr. Emery has been a most efficient aid.
Mr. Emery has been and is a very successful farmer, and anything he undertakes he generally completes, being sure first that he is all right in the beginning.
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
229
MR. ANDREW M. LELAND.
MRS. ANDREW M. LELAND.
ANDREW M. LELAND.
Among the many thrifty farmers in the township of Mendon, Andrew Moore Leland stands prominent. He was born April 3, 1816, in Liberty township, Columbia county, Pennsylvania, where he resided with his father and mother, George and Lydia Leland, until the summer of 1834, when he came to St. Joseph county, Michigan, arriving at Three Rivers June 10, where he remained with his brother, John M. Leland, until the fall of that year, when he returned to Pennsylvania, and, with his father's family, removed to Park township, in St. Joseph county, in the fall of 1835. The trip was overland in wagons, and occupied twenty-six days of steady travel. The first location Mr. Leland made in the county was on section thirty-six, town- ship of Park. In 1863-4 he purchased land on section thirty in Mendon township, since which time he has resided thereon. He owned in Park and Mendon some four hundred acres, but has divided the tract among his boys, retaining about one hundred acres for himself, on which he resides.
Mr. Leland's father died in Park, May 3, 1860, and his mother a few months afterwards, August 5, the same year.
On the 9th day of September, 1841, Mr. Leland was united in marriage to Sarah K., a daughter of William Pellett. She was born July 13, 1824,
in Paupack township, Pike county, Pennsylvania, and removed to Michigan with her parents in 1837, who settled in Mendon in September of that year.
The children of this marriage are William P., George W., and Charles W., all of whom are married and live near the present homestead of the parents. Also, Albert, Hosea and an infant, all of whom are now deceased.
In politics Mr. Leland was originally a Whig, and cast his first presiden- tial vote for " Tippecanoe and Tyler too " in 1840. He has been a Republican since the organization of that party.
Mr. Leland is not a member of any church, but Mrs. Leland is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church in Park.
Coming from a long-lived ancestry, his father dying at the age of ninety- one, and uncles nearly as old, Mr. Leland has inherited an abundant vital force, and possesses a fine physical endowment that bids fair to carry him up to the last decade of a century.
In 1859, at the age of forty-three years, he cradled nine acres of wheat and bound up one acre; his oldest son, then sixteen years old, and another boy of the same age, binding the balance in one day, from sun to sun.
ABRAM H. VOORHEES.
Abram H. Voorhees was born in Lysander, Onondaga county, New York, March 23, 1824. He was a son of William and Alche (Van Doren) Voor- hees, who were born in New Jersey. The father died when Abram was but four years old, and the mother, taking her son and a younger daughter, re- turned to her father's house in the village of Lysander, for a home, where they remained until Abram was twelve years old. He then went to live with a farmer named David Relyea, with whom he remained three years, when his mother marrying again (Jacob Springstedt) he returned to her and remained with her one year, coming west to Washtenaw county, Michigan, with the family, in 1840. The next year he came to Mendon, arriving there on the 4th day of March, working by the month the first season, but striking out for himself the next with a single yoke of oxen, and working land on shares for Moses Taft for two years, when he married Mr. Taft's daughter Sophia, on the 27th day of February, 1844. After his marriage he con- tinued to farm Mr. Taft's land for three years, and then built a house on a location he had bought before his marriage on section twenty-six, in the winter of 1846-7, and removed into it the same winter. In the year 1851 ill-health compelled him to sell out his farms and stock and go to California, where he remained about a year. In the year 1854 he bought, and removed to, his present location near the village of Mendon, a view of which, and his
trotting stallion Hero, we present on another page. Mr. Voorhees in the year 186- conducted as marshal and captain a large company to the mines. Mr. Voorhees has been and is a very successful farmer. His fields show excellent culture, and his well-filled barns and sleek-coated cattle and blooded horses exhibit the legitimate results of his care and skill. He has paid considerable attention to stock-raising, but latterly is more interested in improving horses, and has a fleet stallion and several colts of the Mes- senger-Hambletonian stock now in his stables.
Mrs. Voorhees was born in Ellicutt, Chautauqua county, New York, Feb- ruary 4, 1825, and removed to Mendon with her father, Mr. Taft, in 1835. Mr. and Mrs. Voorhees have had born to them four children-Charles G., now on his own farm in Mendon, and a part of Mr. Taft's original location ; Maria L., now Mrs. E. A. Fletcher, of Mendon ; Alche E., who died in in- fancy ; and Ellen S., now at home, and an accomplished pianist.
Mr. Voorhees was a member of the old Whig organization, and joined the Republican party at its organization, remaining a member of it ever since. He has served his township as supervisor for six years, and justice of the peace for four years, besides serving in other minor offices at many different times. He was deputy sheriff of the county several years, and as- sistant United States marshal during the war of the rebellion. In religious sentiment Mr. and Mrs. Voorhees are liberal in their inclinations.
230
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
JACOB VAN NESS.
nathan Osborn
GEORGE W. OSBORN.
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
231
HON. NATHAN OSBORN.
He, of whose life we write a brief sketch, was born in Windham, Green county, New York, on the 10th day of March, 1803. His father was the Rev. Enos Osborn, a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, and who was born in Middlebury, Connecticut, in 1774, and removed to St. Joseph county, Michigan, with his son Nathan in 1838. He preached for several years to the people of St. Joseph county, among whom he lived nearly forty years, dying in their midst in February, 1876, at the advanced age of ninety-two years and six months. His wife was Naomi Wooster (a descend- ant of General Wooster, of Revolutionary memory). Nathan Osborn was the youngest of her four children, and was educated in the district-schools of Catskill, New York. He studied surveying, however, under Professor Gilbert and Surveyor-General Campbell, of Otsego county, New York.
Judge Osborn moved from Windham to Milford, Otsego county, and engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods for about two years, re- moved thence to Cooperstown for a short time, thence to Middlefield, in the same county, and began the study of law in the office of James Brackett, of Cherry Valley. In the spring of 1831 he removed to Hornellsville, New York, where he read law in the office of Judge Baldwin, and was admitted to the bar of Steuben county in the year 1836. On his first arrival in St. Joseph county he located in Florence, on section sixteen, and began the life of a farmer. In 1842 he removed to Park township, on the " Reserve," where he lived a few years, going from thence to South Bend for a time, and finally removed to Marcellus, Cass county, where he still resides. He was admitted to practice in the St. Joseph county courts in 1839, but did not give his attention to the legal profession as a business.
He was elected county surveyor of St. Joseph county in 1842, and also an associate-justice of the circuit court of the county subsequently; and, when the county court was reorganized, was elected its first second-judge, and then to the position of presiding or county judge of the same court.
Judge Osborn was united in marriage, February 15, 1821, to Miss Polly Claflin, in Catskill, who was born February 15, 1804. Their children were: JEANNETTE, now Mrs. Robert Crawford, of Kansas; AMANDA, after- wards Mrs. Lewis Kimball, but now dead ; GEORGE W., and JAMES D., now a leading lawyer of Goshen, Indiana (and former circuit judge of that State). Mrs. Osborn died February 8, 1852.
On the 1st day of November following, Judge Osborn took another com- panion, Mrs. Rebecca B. Foster, of Ottawa, Illinois, a daughter of Christian Adler, of Philadelphia. Two children were the fruits of this marriage, LIZZIE and BELL, the former now Mrs. George W. Jones and the latter Mrs. L. Poorman, both residing at Marcellus, Cass county.
On the 3d of February, 1862, Mrs. Rebecca Osborn died, and Judge Osborn, finding a lonely life insupportable, brought to his hearth another to make glad his desolate home,-Miss Emma J. Blowers, of Lake county, Illinois,-whom he married January 22, 1863, and by whom he has had one child born to him, IDA L., who resides at home.
Judge Osborn has always been a staunch Democrat in politics, and was an ardent supporter of General Jackson. He is liberal in his religious views, and looks for the elucidation of the mystery concerning man's past and future in a correct knowledge of the laws of nature rather than in theo- logical dogmatising or deductions.
GEORGE W. OSBORN.
The subject of the present sketch was born August 30, 1827, in Middle- field, Otsego county, New York. With his parents, Nathan and Polly Osborn, he came to St. Joseph county at the age of eleven years, settling with them in Florence, and four years later removing to Park, where he lived at the parental home till 1849, and after his marriage returned again and assisted his father on his farm until 1853. From that time until 1863 he pursued the avocation of a farmer in Mendon and Nottawa, and also engaged in machine-work in Goshen, Indiana. After a short sojourn in the latter place, he returned to Parkville, where he followed the trade of a shoemaker until April, 1876, when he again returned to Mendon, and leased the farm of Jacob Van Ness, on which he now resides.
Mr. Osborn was elected supervisor of the township of Park in 1866, and was retained in the office until he removed from the township, ten years afterwards. He held also the office of justice of the peace in that township eight years, besides other minor offices. He has invented lately an improve- ment on grain-drills, which bids fair to be of great advantage to the farmer.
Mr. Osborn was married January 24, 1849, to Ann Eliza, daughter of Jacob Van Ness, of Mendon.
Mrs. Osborn was born in Victor, Ontario county, New York, September, 4, 1831. Mr. and Mrs. Osborn's children are: MORRIS, now married, and residing iu Parkville; CATHARINE C., now Mrs. Albert Perrin ; FITZ ROY and AL ZOA,-the two latter at home with their parents.
In politics, like his father before him, Mr. Osborn is Democratic, and he and his wife are both liberal in their religious views.
JACOB VAN NESS.
Jacob Van Ness comes of the old Knickerbocker stock, who followed Hendrik Hudson up the noble river which he discovered and named, and settled on its banks eastward and westward, and wrested from hardy old nature farms and well-tilled fields. He was born in Hoosac, Rensselaer county, New York, February 5, 1805, where he lived under the old home- stead-roof with his father and mother, John and Alida Van Ness, till he was twenty-two years old, when he removed to Rochester, New York, and from thence (in 1846) to St. Joseph county, Michigan, arriving at Centre- ville February 9. He settled in Mendon that year, on section seven, which location (one hundred and sixty-two acres) he still owns, his son-in-law, George W. Osborn, at present occupying it. He had very slender opportunities to get an education, and followed the occupation of a farmer throughout to the present time.
In 1827 he married Maria Morrison, of Pittstown, New York, who was born February 15, 1805, and to them have been born the following children : DANIEL K., now of the firm of Lewis Van Ness & Co., of Mendon ; CORNE- LIA, afterwards Mrs. Lawrence, now deceased ; ANN ELIZA, now Mrs. George W. Osborn ; ANDREW, ALIDA, now Mrs. Beebe; SARAH CATHARINE, now deceased, and ABRAM, who was a soldier in the Sixth Michigan Infantry, and died in the service.
Mr. Van Ness was originally a member of the old Whig party, and on the organization of the Republican party, joined it, and has ever remained steadfast to its principles.
Mr. and Mrs. Van Ness are members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Vicksburg, Kalamazoo county, where they have resided since 1873.
COLONYDER
LEWIS B. LYMAN.
The subject of the present sketch (Lewis B. Lyman) was born in Fenner, New York, in the year 1821, where he lived with his parents, receiving a very meagre school education, and supporting himself by his own resources
+48.4
232
HISTORY OF ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, MICHIGAN.
after he was fifteen years of age. At the age of twenty-five years he mar- ried Mary Wightman, of Bethany, New York, the interesting ceremony being performed by the Rev. Mr. Hart, at the residence of Mrs. McCleur, a sister of the bride. In the year succeeding their marriage the young couple came to Mendon village, which, at the time (1846), contained but three log- dwellings,-into one of which they moved, and where their oldest child (now Mrs. R. C. Fletcher, of Mendon,) was born the same year, on the 31st day of March.
The next year Mr. Lyman built a frame-house, and opened the first hotel in the village, and also sold goods. Some three years after he moved to Coldwater and opened a hotel in that place, which shortly after burned,- by which disaster Mr. Lyman was swept of all his property. He came back to Mendon and rented a farm east of the village, and the second year the house and all it contained was destroyed by fire, and again his accumu- lations were swept away. Undaunted and undismayed, Mr. Lyman returned to the village, where he formed a mercantile connection,-in which business he continued for twenty years.
His courage and persistency were unbounded, and disaster served only to awake new energies and open new fields of conquest for his enterprise and
ability. He was intimately connected with every leading movement in which the prosperity of Mendon was interested.
Besides the first child before mentioned, who married Roderick C. Fletcher, a son of the old pioneer, John W. Fletcher, two other children blessed the union consummated by Mr. and Mrs. Lyman,-Oliver Marcellus, born September 19, 1853, and Myrufe, September 10, 1860, the latter dying when four years old. Oliver M., familiarly known as "Sellie" Lyman, exhibits the dash and enterprise of his father, and is a leading merchant in the village at the present time. Being taken from his studies at the high- school in Grand Rapids, before his course was completed, by the death of his father in 1870, he settled up the estate, and entered business for himself when but twenty-one years old, and at the end of a year bought out his partner, and now manages his increasing and prosperous business alone. He was married on the 6th of February, 1877, to Miss Mary True, daughter of Samuel True, of Kalamazoo.
In politics Mr. L. B. Lyman was a Republican, staunch and ardent. His religious preferences were towards the Methodist belief, but he was a member of no church organization. His wife is a member of the Episcopal church at Mendon, in which village she at present resides.
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