USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches > Part 44
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Charles D. Harvey married Coralie S. Webb, October 13, 1904. She was one of seven children of the family of Albert and Emma (Rush) Webb. Mr. Webb died in 1896. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey have a son, Ed- win A., born October 28, 1905. The brothers and sisters of subject's wife are Addison, Ed- mond, Elmer, Frank, and Caroline, who is the wife of Henry Cushman.
Mr. Harvey received his early education in the district schools of Pennsylvania. At the age of fifteen years he came with his parents to the state of Michigan, and the following year commenced working for himself, by the month, in Woodhull township. In 1896 he returned to Pennsylvania, working there until
the year 1898, when, at the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, he enlisted in the Fifth Pennsylvania Volunteers, as private. After spending some time at Camp Meade, near the site of the great battle field of Gettysburg, he was ordered with his regiment to Camp Thomas, Chickamauga Park, in the state of Georgia. In August his regiment was ordered to Port Tampa and after re- maining there one week they were sent to their last encampment, at Camp Hamilton, in the state of Kentucky. Mr. Harvev served as private in the hospital corps, and received an honorable discharge in November, 1898. .
He returned to Michigan in 1900, and after passing a successful examination for the civil service was appointed rural mail carrier from Shaftsburg, in 1902, which position he has since filled, giving satisfactory service to the government which employs him and to the patrons upon his route. He is a member of the Knights of the Tent Maccabees, is a Re- publican in politics, and is in every respect a good citizen.
JAMES E. HARVEY
The development of the northwest was ef- fected mainly by the immigrants who came into the territory from New York and Penn- sylvania. Sturdy men and women were they who thus braved the wilderness to better their financial condition and to give to their chil- dren a better heritage than had come to them personally.
James E. Harvey was born February 26, 1867, in the state of Pennsylvania. He is a son of Edwin A. Harvey, who was born in the state of New York, February 27, 1840. and who removed to Pennsylvania in early life, there engaging in general farming. Ed- win A. Harvey was married in 1863, to Clem- entine Campbell, in the state of Pennsylvania, and in that state their seven children were born, the subject of this sketch being the second. There were twelve brothers and sis- ters in the family of the father and five in
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that of the mother. The father is living, but the mother died May 15, 1902, in Woodhull township.
The oldest of our subject's brothers and sis- ters is Sarah, born December 16, 1864. She married Henry Graves and resides in Penn- sylvania. The second child is the subject of this sketch. The third, Willard, was born November 2, 1871, married Rosa Graves, and resides in the state of Pennsylvania. The fourth, Pearl, died in infancy. The fifth, Charley, was born September 30, 1874. He is a resident of Shaftsburg, conducting the rural mail route from that place. In 1904 he was united in marriage with Cora Webb, of Woodhull township. The sixth, Florence. born June 6, 1878, and was united in mar- riage with Ed Webb, brother of Cora (Webb) Harvey, in 1903. They reside in Bennington township. The seventh, Edith, was born Ap- ril 23, 1881. She is the wife of Olan Hoag, a teacher in the school at Byron, Michigan.
James E. Harvey received his early education in the greatest of all institutions of learning, the country school, in the state of Pennsylvania. At the age of sixteen he became a bread- winner, working in the lumber wood of Penn- sylvania. He continued this occupation for a period of five years. When he reached his majority he came to the state of Michigan and commenced working by the month at Shaftsburg and vicinity. He then learned the carpenter's trade and followed that occupa- tion for three years, when he and his father rented a farm, which they worked together four years. He then, for the next few years, was in the meat market and hotel at Shafts- burg. He then made a trip to California, where he had considerable experience in the oil fields of that state.
On the 16th of April, 1902, he married Lucy Grace. She was born February 16. 1875, and is a daughter of William and Jane (Smith) Grace. Mr. and Mrs. Harvey started their married life upon a farm, and after one year purchased a home of their own in Shaftsburg, Mr. Harvey working upon the
Grand Trunk Railroad. Their home was brightened on the 15th of September, 1904, by the birth of his little daughter, Athlene, but was soon afterward broken up by the death of his wife, which occurred October 16, 1904.
Mr. Harvey is a man not easily discour- aged, and he is at present conducting a meat market in Shaftsburg, where he is doing a profitable business. He is a member of the Knights of the Tent Maccabees, is a Republican politically, and has held the office of deputy sheriff two terms. [Since the fore- going article was prepared, Mr. Harvey has removed to the state of California.]
JAMES J. HAVILAND, M. D.
There is no class of men in any community that impress themselves so strongly upon the locality in which they move as self-made men who have carved their way to the front through their own energy, and who take commanding positions in their chosen callings as the result of hard study and close applica- tion, showing a determination to be and to do ; a firm purpose to climb the ladder of useful- ness step by step until the pinnacle be reached. The picture is not overdrawn in saving that the gentleman whose name heads this sketch is such a one. He was born at Gaines, Gene- see county, Michigan, March 25, 1869, his father being John Haviland, who is a native of Ireland, where he was born in 1831. He now lives at Gaines, Michigan, but in 1856 he located at Byron, Michigan, and shortly after- ward bought eighty acres of wild land in Ar- gentine township, Genesee county. He built a log house and improved the first purchase. Later he added eighty acres of improved land to his possessions. He then built a frame house and barn. In politics Mr. Haviland is independent, voting for the best men regard- less of belief or previous condition. He mar- ried Mary Gregon at Byron. She was a na- tive of Zanesville, Ohio, where she was born in 1841, and she died at Gaines, February 24.
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1897. Her mother's father was Michael Gregon, who came to Gaines township, Gen- esee county, from Ohio. He traded a house and lot in Zanesville, Ohio, for one hundred and sixty acres of wild land, which he cleared and made into a good farm.
Dr. Haviland is the third of twelve chil- dren, all of whom are living: Francis R. lives at Gaines and is unmarried ; M. W. Haviland lives in Argentine township and is a bachelor ; Charles lives at Battle Creek and is unmar- ried ; Edward, who lives at Gaines, married Margaret Dullahantz, and they have one child; Mary is the wife of Samuel Tun- ningly of Argentine township, and they have two sons, John and William: Eliza lives at Durand and is unmarried : Sara, who lives in Deerfield township, Genesee county, married M. W. Connell. and they have two children: Mary and William; Matthew lives at Gaines and is single: Lewis lives at Gaines, and is single : Ida lives at Gaines.
As already stated, Dr. Haviland is a self- made man. Starting for himself at the age of nineteen years, he commenced working on the farm to earn money with which to com- plete his education. He continued at this work until twenty-three years of age. Grad- uating at the Gaines high school in the spring of 1889, he then spent part of the year at the Detroit Business College, preparatory to tak- ing a medical course. In 1891 he entered the Detroit Medical College, in which he was graduated with honors as a physician and surgeon of the regular school. In 1894 he came to Lennon. Shiawassee county, and en- gaged in the general practice of his profes- sion, which he has here continued since. He is a member of the county medical associa- tion. In politics he is a Democrat, but not an active partisan, preferring to vote for the best men. He has taken a post-graduate course at Chicago, Illinois, and another in London, England. In 1900 he visited the Paris exposition. He enjoys such a large practice that he is compelled to turn away some of it. He is a bachelor.
ยท ROGER HAVILAND
In the year in which the United States was beginning its second great conflict with the mother country, a conflict which ended in a second victory and in establishing the prestige of our country as a world power, there was born in Ireland a son who was destined to be one of the leading citizens of Shiawassee county.
Roger Haviland was born December 12, 1812, in Londonderry, Ireland. In 1834 he arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. After spending one year there and one year in the city of Detroit, he removed to Ann Arbor, where he followed his trade of shoemaker.
In the year 1837, on the 16th of February. in the city of Ann Arbor, he was united in marriage with Catherine Ferry. She was born on the 21st of April, 1821, and is a daughter of one of the oldest and most re- spected families of Washtenaw county, hav- ing moved there in the year 1832.
Our subject and his wife had no children of their own. They were not lacking in char- ity and had a warm place in their hearts for all who were in need of friends.
They took into their home and reared five adopted children. Roger M., who is now a farmer : Alice, now the wife of Robert A. Cummins, a farmer in Burns township; Ella. now the wife of Frank Sheldon, a farmer ; Joel, who died at the age of twenty-two years, after having gone to California . and Cather- ine E., wife of William Schad, residing on the old homestead; they have one child. Catherine Marie, now attending the high school at Byron, Michigan.
Mr. Haviland made his first purchase of land, by buying one hundred and sixty acres near Byron, Michigan, in the year 1836. This was during the administration of Martin Van Buren, who signed the patent. In 1839 he made his first trip to Shiawassee county, and inspected his purchase, upon which he erected a log house, and he then returned to Ypsilanti, leaving the house to season for a year. The
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following year, on the 3d of February, 1840, he returned to his new home in the wilder- ness, in company with his wife, and from that time until his death, which occurred on the 24th of September, 1884, he was a resident of Shiawassee county.
He received his early education in Ireland, and there learned the trade which he followed for many years. He was a man of extraordi- nary business ability. On his arrival upon his land at Byron, he set to work to clear the land and make improvements. He made boots and shoes for those who ordered them, taking for his pay a certain amount of labor upon the farm. He acquired a great deal of property, at one time owning two hundred and forty acres of land, besides other prop- erty. Before his death he disposed of most of the land and converted the proceeds into paying personal securities.
Politically he was a Democrat, and he held the office of supervisor of his town for a period of five years. He did not belong to any church, but was in sympathy with all churches and gave liberally for their support. He was president of the First National Bank of Corunna for thirteen years. He belonged to the order of Masons. His biography can be found in the previously published History of Shiawassee and Clinton Counties. And his memory can be found inscribed in the hearts of the many who knew him.
Mrs. Haviland is now eighty-four years of age. She has a diary which has been kept in the family for the last sixty-five years. Much of the prosperity which came to her husband was due to her merit, and she shares in equal measure the honor and glory of his life.
BYRON P. HICKS
Byron P. Hicks, a rising young lawyer of the village of Durand, was born in Tyrone. Livingston county, Michigan, on the 27th of November, 1873. He is a son of Reuben M. and Jane S. Hicks, his father being a native
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of Michigan and his mother of New York. Both his parents are dead. His father was a substantial farmer, and a lifelong Republican, casting his first vote for Abraham Lincoln.
Our subject is the sixth of a family of seven children, six of whom are still living. He passed his boyhood days and received his early education in Tyrone township, pursuing the higher branches of learning in the Fenton Normal School and the University of Michi- gan, and graduating in the law department of the latter institution in 1898, with the de- gree of Bachelor of Laws. On the 15th of September of that year he opened an office in Durand, for the general practice of his pro- fession, and he has every prospect of found- ing a career of solid and gratifying success.
Mr. Hicks takes an active interest in poli- tics, his party affiliations being with the "party with a record"-the Republican. He was village attorney of Durand for four years and was the attorney who secured the injunc- tion on behalf of the taxpayers of Shiawassee county, preventing the bonding of the county in aid of the Owosso Sugar Company. When the grand jury was called, the County Grange, farmers' clubs, and safety committee asked that he be appointed assistant prose- cutor in the grand jury proceedings. He is secretary of the Durand Improvement Asso- ciation.
He not only has a wide personal acquain- tance, but is also a marked character in the secret and benevolent activities of many im- portant orders. He is past chancellor in the Knights of Pythias and past master in the Masonic blue lodge. He has membership in the North Newberg Lodge, No. 161, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons; Durand Chapter No. 139, Royal Arch Masons; Corunna Com- mandery No. 21, Knights Templar ; Durand Lodge No. 199, Knights of Pythias; Islam Temple No. 57, Dramatic Order Knights of Khorrassan; and Durand Chapter No. 244, Order Eastern Star, of which he is past worthy patron.
Probably but few citizens of Shiawassee
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county are better known than Mr. Hicks. He is ever ready to extend a helping hand toward any enterprise which looks for the betterment of Durand.
On December 24, 1892, Mr. Hicks was united in marriage to Lillie Rowley, both her father and grandfather being pioneers of this part of the state; the latter, Truman Rowley, was one of the first settlers in Burns town- ship. Mrs. Hicks' parents are both living, being stanch adherents of Methodism.
Mr. Hicks' star is still in the ascendancy, and his friends bespeak for him the success due his efforts. Mr. and Mrs. Hicks are prominent in Durand's best social life, and are esteemed for their many good qualities of head and heart.
T. J. HICKS
T. J. Hicks, a prominent farmer of Ben- nington township and well known in the pub- lic affairs of Shiawassee county, is a native of Michigan, having been born in Washtenaw county on the 22d of August, 1857. He is a son of Jacob and Mary (Booth) Hicks, his father being born in Seneca county, New York, and dying in Washtenaw county, Mich- igan, at the age of sixty-seven years; his mother, born in Lodi, Washtenaw county, died when fifty-six years of age.
The father of our subject was an agricul- turist all his life, and located in Washtenaw county, where he was married, about sixty years ago. He purchased a farm of two hun- dred acres in Lodi township, forty acres of which was improved and contained a house, built partly of logs and partly of finished lum- ber. He added one hundred and sixty acres to the original tract, and fashioned it all into a comfortable homestead, upon which he passed the balance of his useful life. He was a man who always took an interest in public affairs, but never held office, because he never aspired to it. In politics he was an unwaver- ing Republican. He never professed religion,
but was just and honorable in all his dealings and died generally regretted. His wife, the mother of our subject, was a stanch member of the Presbyterian church.
To this faithful and worthy couple were born seven children, six of whom are still living: Charles V., the eldest, is engaged in the express business at Alpena, Michigan; Ella M., now Mrs. Detar, lives in Iowa, child- less; our subject; Rhoda M. is the wife of B. H. Taylor, a farmer in Bennington town- ship; Tillie is the wife of J. J. Perkins, also a farmer of Bennington; Carrie B. married William Cline, a farmer living in Bennington. The first child died in infancy.
The subject of our sketch received his pri- mary education in the district schools of Lodi, but on account of his father's death was obliged to leave the high school two weeks be- fore completing a commercial course. Until he was twenty-four years of age he lived on the homestead farm. He then bought two hundred acres of prairie land in Lenawee county, Michigan, the tract being at the time quite unimproved. He built upon it a house and barns, and lived there for about five years. Later, for a year, he was connected with a crockery store in Jackson, and for the same length of time was engaged in carpenter work in the vicinity of Bennington station.
On March 4, 1886, our subject was united in marriage to Amy Byerly, a native of Ben- nington and a daughter of the late William Byerly. Soon after removing to Bennington township Mr. Hicks bought forty acres of land in Section 3. The farm included a house and he built a barn, and here he made his home for ten years. Later he purchased the Osmond farm, of thirty-nine acres, which for some time had been sadly neglected, moving upon it a house which he owned at Benning- ton station. He has since added a barn and other buildings, and otherwise improved the place, until the homestead is now comfortable and modern.
To Mr. and Mrs. Hicks has been born only one child -Allene-on March 20, 1896. The
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wife is identified with the Methodist Episco- pal church.
Our subject has always been a stanch Re- publican in politics, and his popularity and the confidence which the community has in- variably evinced in his ability and sound judg- ment are illustrated by the fact that he has held the office of justice of the peace for a period of eight years. In 1900 he also served as census enumerator. He is affiliated with the Masonic fraternity, is a member of the Maccabees and the Gleaners, and, all in all, a citizen of splendidly directed energies and broad activities.
REUBEN J. HOLMES.
The subject of this sketch, Reuben J. Holmes, is a native of Niagara county, New York, and was born February 13, 1829. His father, Henry Holmes, was also a native of the same county, having been born in 1816. and having joined the "silent" majority in 1886. He owned a fifty-acre farm in Hart- land township, Niagara county, New York, most of which he cleared. He lived there at the time of his death and passed a busy and useful life, leaving a good name and legions of friends. His wife, the mother of Reuben, was Mary (Oliver) Holmes. She was born in an eastern state and was younger than her husband. Reuben was the second of seven children. The first was Alvord, who lives at Mundy Center, Genesee county, Michigan. He married Electa Harter and had six chil- dren, five of whom are living. Emma, who married Joshua Post and had two children. died at Holly, Michigan. Oscar was the fourth, and he resides at Holly, Michigan. He married Tressie Patterson, by whom he had two children.
Henry Holmes, father of the subject of this sketch, married for his second wife Ruth Post. The issue of this union was three daughters-Lydia, who died in New York state when yet in her 'teens; Maria is the
wife of Millard Streeter, and they now reside in the state of Washington, having five sons; Martha was the third, and she died in the Empire state, having become the wife of Henry Goodman and having had two daugh- ters.
Reuben J. Holmes is a typical self-made man, having carved his way through life by frugality and industry to his present honor- able and comfortable position. Beginning life for himself at the age of twenty-one years, he worked on a farm by the month for the next ten years. Within this time, in 1854, he bought his present farm, making small pay- ments on it from time to time. Three years afterward he moved onto the place, which was then a dense forest. He has been mar- ried three times. His first marriage occurred in 1857, the maiden name of his wife being Anna Buchanan. She was born December 22, 1829, at White Lake, Oakland county, Michi- gan, and died June 17, 1867. Four children were the result of this union. The first was Eddie, who was born June 19, 1858. He died March 13, 1897, in Oklahoma; he was mar- ried, but had no children. Emma was the second child and was born October 30, 1860. She is now a resident of Oneida county, New York. She married Andrew Thornton, by whom she had five children-Bertha (now dead), Onie, Artie, Wacia and Vernie. The third was Henry, who was born November 7, 1862. He was married March 1, 1905, and resides in Washington state. Clara was the fourth. She was born August 29, 1866, and died in Michigan August 2, 1898. She mar- ried Irwin Smith, by whom she had two chil- dren-Linton and Neva.
Mr. Holmes' second marriage occurred in 1868 to Susan Hosford, who is now deceased. Four children were born of this union: Ar- thur, born November 25, 1869, died in 1902, unmarried. Effie, born May 25, 1871, now living in Hazelton township. She married Guy Horton April 6, 1893, and they have four children-Glen, Henry, Gladys, and Archie. Lura died when a baby. Mary, who was born
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. May 8, 1876, and who died February 11. 1896, married William Horton, and they had one child, Ruth, who lives with Mr. and Mrs. Holmes.
The husbands of Mary and Effie above de- scribed were sons of Mr. Holmes' third wife by a previous marriage. To her he was mar- ried October 5, 1888. She was Mrs. Mary Horton and had seven children, as follows : Rhoda, born August 14, 1851, now lives in Iowa : she married Harrison J. Goddard and had three children-Lola, Ernest, and Edith (dead). Walter, born July 28, 1854, lives in Iowa; he married Estella Simons, now de- ceased, and they had three children-Flor- ence, Archie, and one other. William, born September 28, 1858, lives in Hazelton town- ship ; he married Mary Holmes, now de- ceased, daughter of Reuben J. Holmes, and had one child, Ruth. Olive, born September 29. 1860, lives in Wisconsin. She married Fredus Ayers and they have several children. (The four children mentioned above were born in New York state.) Homer, born Au- gust 17, 1869, in Iowa, now lives in New Ha- ven township, Shiawassee county ; he married Myra Knight, and they have four sons-Cor- nelius, Forrest, William, and Russell. Guy, born in Iowa, March 17, 1872, lives in Hazel- ton township; he married Effie Holmes, as noted above. Laura A., born in Iowa, Febru- ary 17, 1874, and now living in New Haven township, Shiawassee county, married Robert Butcher, and they have two children-Hazel and Earl.
The present wife of Mr. Holmes was mar- ried to her first husband in New York, whence, in 1866, they removed to Iowa, where, in April, 1875, her first husband died. Afterward she came to Hazelton township to visit a sister, but did not return to Iowa. Her father was Stephen Hoyt and her mother's maiden name was Rhoda A. Knapp. Both were natives of New York state and both died on a farm of one hundred acres which her father took from the government.
When Mr. Holmes first came to Hazelton
township it was nothing but a vast wilderness, with no roads and few settlers. He at once built a log house, a picture of which he has and proudly shows to strangers. He built a frame house in 1887 and a barn in 1884. He cleared the entire eighty acres he now owns. He was educated in the public schools of Niag- ara county, New York.
There is nothing in the eventful and inter- esting life of Mr. Holmes to which he looks back with such pride and satisfaction as the years he spent in the civil war. He was mus- tered into the service in Company F, Tenth Michigan Cavalry, October 2, 1862, and was in all the engagements of that gallant regiment to date of discharge, excepting when sick in hospital. He was discharged at Memphis, Ten- nessee, November 8, 1865, and mustered out at Jackson. Michigan. A more detailed history of his honorable war record may be found in "Michigan in the War." Mr. Holmes is a stanch Republican and a member of the Grand Army of the Republic.
SYLVESTER M. HOOK
This gentleman is a native of the Buckeye state, having been born in Hancock county July 3, 1858. His father, Benjamin Hook, was a Pennsylvanian and died in Rush township February 19, 1899, at the age of sixty-seven years, and his mother, Lydia (Westerman) Hook, like her son, was a native of Ohio. where she was born May 10, 1838, and she died in Rush township, aged sixty-five years. The parents were wedded in Ohio. Benjamin Hook was a shoemaker by trade and worked at the bench for thirteen years. In those days the shoemaker could make good shoes, and would make nothing else. Benjamin Hook owned village property in Ohio. He enlisted in the civil war as a substitute in an Ohio regi- ment, and was, in some important battles, among them being Murfreesboro. He served only ten months and ten days, and was never wounded or taken prisoner. In 1865 he came
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