USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches > Part 35
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Mrs. Crane is the oldest of four children. The second Marguerite, is the wife of Charles Henderson, of Detroit. The third, Stephen, lives upon a farm in Rush township. The fourth, Bridget, is the widow of Jake Burner, and lives in Chicago. There were two chil- dren of the second marriage, William and Ellen.
To Mr. and Mrs. Crane have been born five children. The first, Orie, is married and resides in Owosso; Oliver is unmarried and lives in Rush township, at home; Erma, aged twenty-two, is the wife of Manasa Mitchell, of Rush township; Jay, aged twenty-one is married and is at home ; Leslie, aged thirteen, is at home.
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Mr. Crane purchased fifty-four acres in ad- dition to his original eighty and at the time of his death, which occurred since this sketch was first written, had one hundred and thirty- four acres of as fine farming land as' the county affords. All of this land he cleared and improved, having erected two large barns
and improved his dwelling house until it is one of the finest in the township. He also owned a house and lot in Henderson. The stock on the farm is high bred, especially the cattle, which are well adapted to the uses for which he has them. He was president of the Henderson Butter Company, to which he sold large quantities of milk annually. Mr. Crane was a Republican politically, and was honored by holding several township offices, including that of supervisor, of which he was incumbent for two years. He was a member of the Mod- ern Woodmen of America of Henderson. The homestead is arranged with all the conveni- ences for general farming, and he lived to enjoy the fruits of many years of honest toil.
AUSTIN W. CRONK
I'luck and energy accomplish much for a . young man who starts the battle of life empty- handed and alone, resolved to win out. These sterling traits are exemplified in a marked degree in the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this page. He is a native son of Michigan, having been born in Flushing township, Genesee county, August 30, 1853. He is a son of Walter N. Cronk, who hailed from Erie county, New York, where he was born December 30, 1811; and died in Flush- ing. Michigan, October 28, 1891. His wife, Harriet (Persons) Cronk, was a native of Wyoming county, New York, where she was born in 1823 and she died in the same place as her husband, in 1864. In 1837 Walter N. Cronk came west and located at Flint, Michi- gan, where his father had bought one hundred and sixty acres of wild land from the govern- ment. He was married, in the township of Flint, to Harriet Persons, and they were pio- neers of Genesee county. There were no roads in those days, at least to the land on which these pioneers located, so the father of our subject was forced to cut his way through the woods a distance of nine miles; and it took several days to do this. He built a log
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shanty and later a log house. The nearest milling point was Pontiac,-a week's trip. One man used to make the trip, a distance of fifty miles, for the neighborhood. Walter N. Cronk lived on this farm fifty-two years, at the end of which he took up his residence in Flushing, where he died. He improved nearly all the land himself, and the magnitude of such a task can only be appreciated by those who have passed through it. When he first came to Genesee county deer were so plenti- ful that he could kill and ship one out almost any time. He always took his gun with him when hunting his cows, as he generally could then bag some game. He was a member of the Masonic order.
Our subject started for himself at the age of twenty-one years, after which he worked his father's farm on shares, and another farm for several years. In 1874 he bought eighty acres of unimproved land, on section 36, Haz- elton township, where he now lives ; but he did not locate on it until 1879,-due largely to the impassable roads. A frame house was built to start with, and this is now a part of the present fine house .- the result of extensive re- modeling. The entire farm is now under a good state of cultivation, the forest having given way to broad, cultivated fields. The original farm was enlarged by the addition of forty acres, all improved land. on section ?. Venice township, and in March, 1905, still another forty acres, adjoining the first forty, in the same township, has been added, thus giving him one hundred and sixty acres in all. -a splendid heritage for any man. The first frame barn which he built was struck by light- ning and burned. Six years ago he again remodeled his home and built another barn.
October 8, 1879, Mr. Cronk married Ella Twitchell, who was born December 21, 1856. She is a daughter of James Twitchell, who was born in Onondaga county, New York, in 1832, and who died in Flushing, Michigan, August 18, 1897. The latter's wife was Har- riet (Hoyt) Twitchell, who was born in the same county, state and year as her husband.
She now lives with her daughter and son-in- law. Mr. and Mrs. Cronk. When twenty-one years of age, James Twitchell located in Ber- rien county, Michigan, on one hundred and sixty acres of timbered land, building a log house and stable. He improved the property and just after the civil war sold the same and removed to Saginaw, where he engaged in the grocery business. He was also deputy register of deeds for Saginaw county for sev- eral years and was township treasurer in . Berrien county. In politics he was a Demo- crat, and he also belonged to the Masonic fraternity. In 1870 heremoved to Shiawassee county, buying eighty acres of new land, in Hazelton township and eighty acres in Ven- ice township, all of which he converted into a fine farm. In later life resided in Flushing. where he died, still owning the farm of eighty- eight acres. His daughter, Ella, wife of our subject, was the second born in a family of four. Hattie died November 29, 1867, aged fourteen years and six months; Frank, who was born October 8, 1859, and who lives in Detroit, being a nartner in novelty-ware works, married Olivia Hoard, and they have two children .- Hattie and Clara : James Ed- ward, who was born February 27, 1864, and who lives in Detroit, where he is interested in the novelty works with his brother, married Belle Olmstead, and they have two children .- Everard and Morey.
Three children have blessed the home of our subject and his wife,-Julia, who was born January 14, 1881, and who is a graduate of the Flushing high school, married Albert Sherman. December 25, 1901, and they live at Byron, where he is principal of schools : they have two children .- Marjorie, born No- vember 5, 1902, and Austin, born September 22. 1901: Grover C., born January 1, 1883. lives at home : as does also Arthur, who was born AAugust 12, 1891.
Austin W. Cronk was the fourth born in a family of five children ; George, who was born in 1842, died April 9, 1905, at Flushing. having been a retired farmer. He married
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Eliza Packard, and they had .two children,- Bert and Permillia. Abiah, who lives in Grand Rapids, married Joseph Davis, and they had three children,-Austin, Nellie and Norton. James died at the age of eight years. The subject of this sketch was next in order of birth, and Hattie, the youngest, is deceased.
Mr. Cronk is well up in Masonry, being a member of the blue lodge, the chapter, the Order of the Eastern Star and the command- ery of Knights Templar. In politics he is a Democrat, and he has served as supervisor of Hazelton township for six terms, and as town- ship treasurer for two terms.
WILLIAM R. CROOK
General Sherman once said : "War is hell!" No one knew the truth of this expressive re- mark better than General Sherman, and its force has been brought home to each of the great army of veterans now so rapidly clos- ing their earthly careers in every part of this broad land of ours. The gentleman whose name heads this page was born in Erie county, New York, August 26, 1836. He is a son of Frink Crook, who was a native of the Granite state, but who passed most of his life in the state of New York, where he died, at the age of sixty years ; his wife, Lucy (Kenyon) Crook, passed to the other shore when her son, our subject, was only four years old. The latter was one of ten children, seven of whom are living. None of them has ever resided in Michigan, how- ever, excepting William R .; one brother lives in Wisconsin. Our subject received his early education in the district schools of Holland, Erie county, New York, and at the age of twenty commenced to work by the month as a farm hand. This was his employment at the outbreak of the civil war, when he enlisted for three years, in Company H, One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth New York Infantry, as a private. At the battle of Cold Harbor he was shot through the knee, was taken prisoner and
held by the Confederates for three months, most of the time in Libby prison, Richmond. He was then exchanged and sent to Annap- olis. He also participated in the battle of Spottsylvania Court House, Virginia, May 10, 11 and 12, 1864, and other smaller engage- ments.
For two years after the war Mr. Crook was engaged in the east in various agricultural pursuits, after which he migrated to the west, as Michigan was then called, and located in Oakland county. At first he purchased forty acres of improved land, near Vernon, residing thereon for several years. In 1880 he re- moved to his present location, in section 9, Shiawassee township, buying a tract of sev- enty acres of improved land, with a number of fair farm buildings. He has since added fifty acres, erected a modern residence and other structures befitting an up-to-date homestead, and in his later years is deriving substantial enjoyment, as only a successful and prosper- ous farmer is able fully to do. He is quiet and domestic in his tastes, and, although a Republican in politics has never aspired to public office. In his religious faith he is a Methodist.
Mr. Crook was united in marriage Novem- ber 29, 1865, to Harriet Rappleye, who was born in Genesee county, New York. This estimable lady died February 12, 1894. She was a daughter of Peter and Ann (Rose) Rappleye, her father having been a farmer near Syracuse, New York. January 11, 1898, Mr. Crook was married a second time, his bride being Elizabeth Cole, a native of Jeffer- son county, New York, where she was born May 18, 1859. She is a daughter of Franklin and Harriett (Rockwell) Cole. Her father was a farmer of Brownville, Jefferson county, New York, where he was born August 24, 1817, and he died January 31, 1861, leaving a widow and seven children. Mrs. Crook's mother was born January 18, 1823, and is therefore a venerable lady in her eighty-third ยท year ; she makes her home with our subject and wife. Her seven children are: Harriett,
SHIAWASSEE COUNTY
born March 20, 1847, is now the wife of J. B. Reynolds, a farmer of Caledonia township; Laura M., born April 28, 1848, is the wife of Henry Phoenix, of Middlebury, Indiana ; Jane A., born April 30, 1850, is the wife of Charles Helsey, of Pulaski, New York: Her- bert F., born December 21, 1852, was drowned June 6, 1822. while washing sheep on the Reynolds farm, in Caledonia ; Clarence A., who was born January 2, 1855, and who was a resident of Wisconsin, married Minnie Graves ; he died December 22, 1893; William R., born April 22, 185%, married Florence A. Wilcox. and lives in Corunna ; and Elizabeth M. is the wife of our subject. Mrs. Cole re .. mained on the farm which her husband left at his death, faithfully rearing her large fam- ily of children, and in 1813 she made her home at Corunna.
Mr. Crook has no living children by either marriage. It will be seen, from the above outline of his career, that he has not only proved a good, brave and loyal soldier. but has demonstrated the fact that he is equally as good a farmer and business man, and in his declining years he has the profound respect of a large circle of personal friends.
L. G. CUDNEY
It is always a pleasure to follow the course of a self-made man, especially if that man be successful in life's activities. Such a man is L. G. Cudney. He was born in Girard, Penn- sylvania. November 21, 1853. His father was William Cudney, who was a native of Penn- sylvania, where he was born February 20, 1815. The mother of our subject was Cecilia (Silverthorne) Cudney, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1814, and who died at the age of seventy-nine years. Young Cudney lived with his parents until he was twenty-one years old. He was educated at Springfield Academy, paying his tuition by teaching mental and practical arithmetic in that institution. After leaving home he went to Owosso, where he
learned the carpenter's trade, under M. M. Potter, for whom he worked three years. In the following year Mr. Potter was employed by Mr. Cudney, and for fifteen years after- ward the latter was engaged in contracting and building. Many of the finest structures in Corunna, Venice, New Haven and Chesan- ing represent the work of his hands and brain. His father was a farmer and drover and also dealt in land, owning from one hun- dred and sixty acres to six hundred acres at different times. His home farm consisted of one hundred and sixty acres, finely improved and equipped with first-class buildings. The father and mother kept house together for sixty years, both having been very stout and rugged. William Cudney was active after he became quite old. He did a great deal of hunting and fishing. being fond of this sport. He and Judge A. A. Harper, of Corunna, ate corn bread made from corn cracked on an oak stump, the only method in vogue with the settlers in the early pioneer days. He and other pioneers bought salt from Stephen T. Girard, of Philadelphia, the same having been towed across Lake Erie. Girard was the founder of the great college named after him. Mr. Cudney's father was always a strong Democrat, and several times was elected to office in his town and county. In religion he was a Universalist. and his wife was a Pres- byterian. L. G. Cudney was the sixth in a family of seven children, the others being: Henry, who is a traveling salesman ; Benja- min, who lives at Perry, Michigan : Jane, who is the wife of Captain A. J. McKee, of Spring- field, Pennsylvania : Harriett Amanda, who is the wife of Elder Maynard, of Springfield, Pennsylvania : James S .. who is a lumberman and farmer of Springfield, Pennsylvania ; and Clarence M., who is a millwright, residing in Owosso.
Mr. Cudney was married December 21. 1ss1 to Leonora Hoenshell, who was born in Ohio, July 21. 1862. Her father was Jonas Hoenshell, also a native of Pennsylvania, and he died in Caledonia. January 1. 1904, aged
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sixty-nine years. His wife was Mary (Steffy) Hoenshell, a native of Ohio, and now sixty- six years old. She lives with her son, in Cale- donia township. Jonas Hoenshell settled on a farm in Caledonia township, in 1864, and here he lived until his death. Mr. Cudney is the second of a family of seven children, the others being: William A., who lives in Owosso; Jacob S., who lives in Gladwin, Michigan ; John H., who lives in Caledonia ; Lewis, who lives in Caledonia township ; Ella, who is now Mrs. Watson, of Durand; and Fred, who lives at the old home.
Before Mr. Cudney was married, and white learning his trade at Owosso, he bought eighty acres of wild land, on which he now resides. This land was then all woods and there were few roads in the neighborhood. He paid out his last dollar for an ax and then begun the work of improving his farm. He first built a small frame house. To this he has added until it is now one of the finest in the township. He has a barn thirty-six by seventy feet, built twenty years ago. The other improvements are the result of his own. labors. He has also added sixty-five acres more land, some of which had been partly cleared. The land is all in good condition and is under a high state of cultivation. Mr. Cudney is a model farmer. There are no fence corners growing to weeds to be seen on his farm, as he takes great pride in keeping things looking thrifty and tidy. All of the buildings on the farm were built by himself and are of course, first-class in every way. He does considerable buying and selling of stock, at which he is quite successful. With the exception of two years spent in Pennsyl- vania, looking after his father's business, he has always lived on his farm. He makes a specialty of raising a variety of crops, so that if one fails, another can usually be depended on. In short, he is a careful, shrewd business man, and while he rarely lets slip a chance to make money, he is always honorable and sin- cere.
This 'couple of sturdy citizens have been
blessed with four children, all of whom are living, as follows: Cecilia, aged twenty-three years, is the wife of Frank Deyo, of Grand Rapids; Etta, aged seventeen, is the wife of Charles White, who owns a farm of one hundred and twenty acres in New Haven township : Glen V., aged fourteen, is at home and is attending the Corunna school; L. G. Stanley was born February 2, 1903.
Always a Republican, Mr. Cudney has never consented to hold office, preferring rather to be in the ranks of the party. He does not belong to any fraternal society. He is a gentleman of excellent habits, and is re- spected in the community.
LINN M. CUDWORTH, M. D.
Some men in this life of ups and downs and rapid changes have greatness thrust upon them ; while others achieve greatness. Of the subject of this sketch, Dr. Linn M. Cudworth, of Perry, Michigan, the latter may be said, as he has already left his impress upon the com- munity in which he has cast his lot, despite the fact that he is yet a young man. He re- ceived his early education at Oxford Acad- emy, New York, and Colgate University, at Hamilton, New York. He graduated in the Baltimore University School of Medicine the same year. He was a jeweler with his father at Oxford, New York, prior to taking up the study of medicine. The Doctor is a native of Bainbridge, New York, where he was born February 23, 1870. He is the son of John W. Cudworth, a native of Burlington, Ver- mont, who was born December 15, 1845. He is now, however, a resident of Cortland, New York, following the occupation of jeweler and optician. The Doctor's mother was Eloisa (Maine) Cudworth and she was united in marriage to his father, in New York state, in 1869. She died at Oxford, New York, Janu- ary 2, 1894, honored and revered.
Dr. Cudworth was married to Lucy B. Sny- der, of Perry, Michigan, October 16, 1904.
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His wife is a native of Perry, and was born June 17, 1882. In politics the Doctor is a Republican, and he served as president of Perry village one term. He is a member of Perry Lodge of Odd Fellows ; of Perry Lodge. Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is sen- ior deacon ; a member of Owosso Lodge of Elks, and is also an esteemed member of the Bap- tist church.
Dr. Cudworth, being yet on the sunny side of life and in the enjoyment of public confi- dence and a good equipment for the practice of his chosen profession, is well advanced on the road to success and a good competency for later years.
EDWARD CURLISS
This gentleman has a three-fold history. and has had an experience that falleth not to the average tiller of the soil. He is now a well-to-do farmer in Bennington township; but has also been a California miner and a manufacturer. Concerning the Golden state. whither he journeyed in 1855, Mr. Curliss could furnish sufficient data to make a book. Like thousands of others who went there in quest of gold :
His daily teachers had been woods and rills. The silence that is in the starry sky, The sleep that is in the lonely hills.
Mr. Curliss remained nearly five years mi Cal- ifornia, where he was employed in farming and mining, but returned to Michigan to see his wife, intending to sell his homestead and personal property and return to California. but he was unable to find a buyer. so con- cluded to stick to the farm. lle resolved to make it "win out" or else to engage in some other line of profitable work in which he could also earn for himself a place in the community.
Mr. Curliss continued his farmnig opera- tions for a number of years, but in 1866 re- moved to Owosso and engaged in the manu- facture of wooden pumps. He conducted this industry for a period of twenty years, when
he disposed of his factory and, for a time, re- tired from active business. In 1900, however. he returned to his farm, in Bennington town- ship, where he has since lived, and a though seventy-seven years of age, he is in good health, and engaged in general farming. He takes great pride in the remarkable growth of timber in his locality, and being one of the pioneers of the region he has been able to re- cord some interesting personal facts. For in- stance, when he first located in Bennington township, he remembers measuring a stump which was seven feet and seven inches across. A small elm sprout which he had planted in a lane before going to California grew to be a tree nine feet eleven inches in circumference. Mr. Curliss was born in Oakland county. Michigan, March 15, 1828. His father was William Curliss and his mother Maria (Lulis) Curliss, both natives of the Empire state. hu his younger days the father was a cooper, but he spent most of his mature life as a tiller of the soil, in Michigan. When he located in Oakland county, Detroit was little more than a hamlet of huts. He first purchased a farm near Birmingham, but after residing there for several years settled near White Lake. When our subject was sixteen years of age, his fath- er removed his family to a farm on section ?, Bennington township. Shiawassee county, his land adjoining that which his son, Edward, subsequently purchased and which is now the family homestead. This was in 1844, and the region was a wilderness. The father, with the aid of his boy, built a little log house, in which he and his wife lived until their death.
When our subject was twenty years old he bought. in company with a friend. eighty acres of timbered land, adjoining the family homestead on the west. After three years of hard labor, they cleared it of timber, which they sold for a sufficient amount to pay for the tract.
In 1855 Mr. Curliss married Elizabeth D. Cook, daughter of Ezekiel and Drucilla (Castle) Cook. Her parents settled in Shia- wassee township in 1832. Mr. Cook was born
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December 16, 1801, and died March 12, 1884; his first wife was born November 16, 1801, and died September 9, 1833.
The wife of Edward Curliss was one of three children by her father's first marriage. The first child was Chauncey Cook, who died in Saginaw county in 1888; the second child was Mrs. Curliss ; and the third, Drucilla, is the widow of Wallis Gammon, of Sacramento, California. The second wife of Mr. Cook was Barbara (Hodge) Cook. They had four children ; The first, Seth, lives in Shiawassee township; Anna is the wife of Hugh Cooper, of Riley, Kansas ; E. J. Cook resides in Shia- wassee township; and Prof. A. J. Cook re- sides in Clarmont, California, having been formerly a professor. in the Michigan Agri- cultural College.
Mr. and Mrs. Curliss had no children of their own, but adopted as their daughter, Ada H. Hill, who, under the tender care of her foster parents, developed to womanhood, and who is now his homekeeper. For several years she was a teacher in the Owosso public schools. Mrs. Curliss was summoned to the life eternal in April, 1889, having been a woman of many virtues.
In politics our subject has always been a Republican, but has never held office nor been1 an office seeker. He has been an industrious, sturdy and useful citizen, just the kind who, without pretensions, is at the basis of the prosperous American rural community, which, in turn, fornis the bulwark of the nation.
EDWIN M. CURTIS
The subject of this sketch has been a resi- dent of Shiawassee county for half a century ; and through his own industry and ability has raised himself to a condition of ideal comfort, although he was for many years the mainstay of a large family. During all of this long residence period he has been deeply and prac- tically interested in educational affairs, and for more than thirty years has served as a
school director. Now in his seventy-fifth year, Mr. Curtis is still mentally and physically vigorous, widely known and uniformly hon- ored for his strong moral character.
Edwin M. Curtis is a native of Niagara county, New York, where he was born May 21, 1831. His parents were Asa Curtis, also a son of the Empire state, and Mariah (Fill- more) Curtis, who was born in Vermont ; they were married in New York, where their ten children were born in the following order : Mariette, who was born in Niagara county, New York, died in Woodhull township; Lou- isa, born in Niagara county, New York, mar- ried Ranthus Tibbits, now deceased, and had one son, Almanson, a farmer ; and she died in Macomb county, Michigan. William, bor11 in October, 1825, in Niagara county, New York, was twice married, first to Eliza Slo- cum, of Middlebury township, by whom he had eight children, and second to Mrs. Har- ris, who died without issue ; Clarissa was born in 1829 and is now living with her daughter, Nancy Parks, in Bath township, Clinton coun- ty, having been twice married, first to D. Hi- ram Hart, deceased, by whom she had eight children, and second to Edwin Parks, by whom she was without issue ; our subject was next in order of birth : Harriet, deceased, was born about 1833 : Caroline, born in 1835, mar- ried Samuel Lester, deceased, is the mother of four children and resides in Memphis, Michigan ; James, who was born in 1837, and who resides on a farm of 90 acres in Macomb county, married Louisa Torrey and has two sons, Herman and Burt; two of the ten chil- dren died in infancy.
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