USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches > Part 48
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Our subject is one of a family of eight chil- dren, four of whom are now living. He re- ceived his school education at Bolivar, Ohio. Philip Kline enlisted in the service of his country in August, 1862, and served nearly three years. He was a member of the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Ohio Volun- teer Infantry. His service for the most part was in the Sixth Corps of the Army of the Potomac. He personally took part in twenty- six engagements, among the more notable of which the following may be mentioned: Get-
tysburg, Wilderness, Winchester and Cedar Creek. He was also at Appomattox at the final surrender of the Confederate forces by General Lee to General Ulysses S. Grant. He served for a considerable time as the color- bearer of his regiment. In the battle of the Wilderness he received a gun-shot wound in his left hand and as a result carries a stiff finger. At the battle of Petersburg he had a very close call, as he received seven holes through his clothes in this engagement.
A rare and interesting souvenir of the civil war is now in the possession of Colonel Kline. It is nothing more than a red bandana hand- kerchief, but it has an interesting history. Judah P. Benjamin was a Lousianian and a stanch supporter of the "lost cause." The Confederate government sent him to England on an important mission and while in that country he had manufactured one dozen red bandana handkerchiefs and these, upon his return, he distributed, as a memento, among twelve Confederate officers. These handkerchiefs were of the finest India silk and a yard square. The body is in red and worked in black. On its surface appear the portraits of Davis, Beauregard, Lee, Jackson, Morgan, Slidell and Johnston, encircled with wreaths of southern laurel and a border of ferns and cotton plants on a white ground, no two wreaths being similar. The workmanship is very artistic and the relic may justly be highly prized. During the battle of Petersburg, Vir- ginia, April 23, 1865, Mr. Kline was color- bearer of the One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and a rebel colonel was captured who had one of these handker- chiefs. Mr. Kline asked him what he would take for it and he replied, "You d-d Yanks have got me; now I will have to get some of your money. I will take a dollar for it." Mr. Kline purchased the handkerchief and has since had it in his possession and prizes it very highly.
In the fall of 1865 our subject was united in marriage to Elizabeth J. Belpnak of Ohio, and they have one son, J. Sidney Kline, born July 15, 1866. He is still at home, assisting
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his father in the management of the farm. He was united in marriage October 24, 1893, to Helen A. Fay, who was born February 22, 1874. They have one daughter, Nellie M., born July 13, 1898.
Colonel Kline takes a lively interest in Grand Army matters and is recognized as one of the leading military spirits of Shiawassee county. He has been elected commandant of the county battalion with the rank of colonel. He is also past commander of H. F. Wallace Post, of Corunna. Mr. Kline is also a mem- ber of the Grange and is counted as one of the prominent and progressive citizens of the township. He has been for five years presi- dent of the Patrons' Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Genesee and Shiawassee counties, an office which he still holds. Colonel Kline is highly respected by all who know him, and lives in the consciousness of having met the duties of life in a manner to merit the com- mendation of his friends and neighbors.
CHARLES LAHRING
Charles Lahring, the subject of this sketch is of German extraction. His father and mother were both born in Germany, whence they immigrated to this country. They were of the study German stock that has given to the American republic so valuable an element, representing honesty, industry and economy, and proving a power for good in all the relations of life. Wherever you find the German you will find industry and economy and that which emanates from it, prosperity.
The father of the subject of this sketch was Herman Lahring, and the mother was Kath- erine Lahring. The mother is living with one of her sons near the home of the subject of this sketch, but the father died in the year 1872, when Charles was but twelve years of age. The mother is now seventy-eight years of age and is in very feeble health.
Herman Lahring was a man who had ac- quired considerable wealth. At his death he was possessed of two hundred and fifty-six
acres of good farming land in Burns town- ship, besides other property. The sons, working upon the principal that in unity there is strength, all remained at home, working to- gether. When the property was divided each received the value of six hundred dollars in real estate, the mother reserving for herself fifty-six acres of the land as her homestead. Of the ten children, the oldest is Mrs. Cecelia Ketson; the second, Lewis, resides on a farm in Shiawassee county; the third, Elizabeth, was the wife of Mr. Mark Boyce, who is de- ceased; the fourth, Amelia, is the widow of Andrew Lilly; the fifth, Marv, is deceased ; the sixth, William, is a farmer in Burns township; the seventh is Charles, subject of this sketch ; the eighth, Frank, is a farmer, as are also Culver and Henry.
Politically Mr. Lahring is a Democrat. He is not active in politics, but in political mat- ters takes the interest commensurate' with good citizenship. He received his early edu- cation in the district school,-in what is known as the Cole school house. He worked upon the farm with his brothers until he had attained to the age of twenty-two years.
In the year 1888 Mr. Lahring was united in marriage to Victoria Buck, who is of Eng- lish extraction. Her father was born in Eng- land, but had lived in America for a number of years prior to his death. Mrs. Lahring's mother is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Lahring have two children, Lottie, born March 23, 1892, and Mary, born June 5, 1903.
Our subject is a member of the Methodist church. He has a fine farm of over one hun- dred and twenty-two acres of land, in section 9, Burns township, and the same is well im- proved. He is engaged in general farming of which he makes a success, and is rapidly adding to the wealth which he already pos- sesses.
WESLEY LAWSON
The neighboring province of Ontario, Can- ada, has furnished Michigan many, very
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many, of her best and most prosperous farm- ers. One of these is the gentleman whose name heads this article and who now resides on section 16, Hazelton township. Although a native of Canada, as were his father and grandfather before him, he is descended from German stock on his father's side. His mother, Aranetta (Cooper) Lawson, was born in the state of New York, February 13, 1821; she is now living with her son in Hazel- ton. Wesley Lawson was born January 1, 1857. He was a son of Caleb Lawson, who was born near Hamilton, Ontario, July 7, 1822, and who died in Hazelton, February 22, 1905. He always followed farming and when a young man purchased fifty acres of native forest in Haldimand county, Canada, and set to work at once to build a dwelling on the place. He cleared the farm and made his home there until 1865, when he sold and re- moved to Hazelton township, Shiawassee county, Michigan, where he bought one hun- dred and sixty acres of virgin land, heavily timbered. He first built a log shanty and a few years later a log house, in which he lived until fifteen years ago, when he erected a beautiful frame house and barn, with other buildings. With the aid of his sons, he cleared the land and made the farm one of the best in Hazelton township. A few years ago he gave up farming, selling his property and went to live with his son George, where he remained until his death, February 22, 1905, as stated above. He was always a Republican in politics and was highway commissioner for several years. This, with the exception of be- ing a school officer, was the only public office he ever filled. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as is also his widow, both being quite active in religious matters. They were married in Canada, May 24, 1853, and had a family of three children : Mary, who was born in 1854, died thirty-two years ago, unmarried; our subject was the next in order of birth; George, who was born July 4, 1862, married Alva Burpee, and they live in Hazelton township.
Our subject was educated in the district schools of Hazelton township and lived at home with his parents until twenty-seven years of age. January 1, 1884, he was mar- ried to Sarah J. Wood, a native of Canada, where she was born March 18, 1862. She is a daughter of Isaac and Harriet (Grace) Wood, the latter of whom died in Canada. Mr. Wood married a second time, and came to Michigan, locating in Hazelton township. Mrs. Lawson was one of five children, three of whom are now living: Mrs. Lawson, John H., of Kalkaska county; and Anna, wife of Riley St. John, of Owosso township.
After our subject was married he rented his father's place and worked it on shares, living there for four years. He then bought forty acres of land near his father's farm. This was mostly cleared. He built a house and barn and finished clearing the land. He subsequently bought forty acres more, all im- proved, upon which he made his home for seven or eight years. He then bought eighty acres near where he now lives and remained there three years. Next he purchased his present farm of eighty acres, which was well improved, and which with the exception of some changes which he has made and includ- ing additions to the buildings, is about the same as when he bought the property. He has a large frame house, big barn and other buildings. The land is under a fine state of cultivation and the whole is a model of neat- ness, impressing the beholder with the fact that the owner is a splendid farmer. He has always been engaged in agriculture pursuits, making no specialty of any one line but con- ducting varied farming and making rotation in crops.
Mr. and Mrs. Lawson have two children,- Ethela was born October 18, 1886, and is clerking in Beatty's store, at New Lothrop, Ansel was born March 31, 1888, is single and remains at home. Mr. Lawson is a Republi- can in politics but never has held office. He is a member of the Grange. Both he and his wife are extremely pleasant people and are
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highly honored and respected by their neigh- bors. In short, Hazelton has no better farmer or more worthy citizen than Wesley Lawson.
JOEL LEAVITT
Joel Leavitt has not been a drone in the hive of humanity, but rather has been a inan of great industry, as the result of which suc- cess has crowned his efforts. 'Tis true that "To climb steep hill requires slow pace at first,"-but they scarcely ever fail who try and persevere. So it has been with Joel Leavitt. He has climbed and tried and succeeded, be- ing now a well-to-do farmer in Fairfield township. His patience and toil have been duly rewarded. August, 1862, he enlisted in the navy, at the Brooklyn, New York, navy yard, as a landsman, and was assigned to duty on the battleship Monticello, Commodore Bar- ney, and was discharged from the Moss, at the expiration of one year, the time for which he enlisted. He was engaged in the naval battle of Newport News, near West Point, with some skirmishes on the rivers; he was at Baltimore, Maryland. Mr. Leavitt is a native of Hinkley township, Medina county, Ohio, where he was born October 3, 1840. His father. Moses Leavitt, who hailed from Maine, where he was born in 1796, died in Fairfield township, in 1858. His mother, Ruth (Emerson) Leavitt also died there, having been a Vermonter. Moses Leavitt removed to Canada with his parents when a boy, and there met and married Ruth Emerson. After the first six children were born the father of the subject of this sketch removed with his family to Ohio, where he bought fifty acres of wild land, in Brunswick township, Medina county. He built a log house and stable and cleared the land. In 1851 he sold the prop- erty and removed to Fairfield township, Shi- awassee county, Michigan, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres of government land, on section 24. In the spring of 1852 he
came from Cleveland to Detroit by boat, and thence with an ox team to his future home. The family lived with a neighbor, one and one-half miles distant while building a log house on the new place. He cleared twenty acres before his death. After this sad event Joel and his brothers worked the farm for a time, but in 1865 Joel bought his present place, on section 14. It consisted of eighty acres of wild land. On this he built a log house and stable, and eventually he cleared the land. At the end of the year the log house was burned. This was replaced with another log structure and later he added forty acres of wild land. This he also cleared. He has now a fine frame house and good barns.
In February, 1864, Mr. Leavitt married Achsah Scott, who was born in September, 1845, and who died October 12, 1890. Mrs. Leavitt's father, Jason Scott, was born in New York state, and came to Livingston county, Mich., at an early day, buying land in that county. He lived there until the occasion of a visit in New York state, where he died. Mrs. Leavitt's mother, Sarah (Wilsey) Scott, died near Elsie. Mrs. Leavitt was the fifth of ten children. Laura was married, and died in Ne- braska; Walter died in Toledo; Mary was married, and died in Howell, Michigan ; Park married Irene Franklin and lives in Carland, Mich .; Charlotte married Levi Leavitt and lived in Fairfield township; Albert died in the west; Caroline married, having been the eighth child; Delia married George Cobb and lives at Elsie, Michigan ; Ruth died young.
Mr. and Mrs. Leavitt have five children, all of whom are living: Alva, who lives in Fair- field township, married Barbara Snyder, and they have two children, Clara and Norman J. Emma is the wife of Fred A. Dunham, of Turner, Arenac county, and they have two children,-Grace and Erma. Herbert L. lives in Fairchild township, being a bachelor ; Hel- en D. is married and lives in Chapin, having two children, Fern and Elna; Myra I. is the wife of Edward Williams of Fairfield town- ship; they have no children.
J. D. LELAND
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Mr. Leavitt was the eighth of twelve chil- dren, the first six having been born in Canada and the others in Ohio: Abigail, who lives in Clare, Mich., married Elvin Lee, now de- ceased, and has five children-Dwight, Charles, Milton, Nancy and Ruth. Moses D. lives in Medina county, Ohio, is married, and has four children. Amy married Henry Higgins and died in Fairfield township, leaving no chil- dren. Rachel married Soloman Smith and is now deceased. Sara died unmarried. Luth- er lives in Fairfield township, being a bache- lor. John lives in Missouri, is married and has three children,-Frederick, Lora and John. Marshall lives in Saginaw county. He had three children by his first marriage and none by his second. Matilda lives in Owosso, being the widow of Henry Ferris, and having had three children,-Harry, Harvey and Mar- tella. Levi, deceased, married Charlotte Scott and they had six children,-Melvin, Ruth, Dudley, Grover and two daughters who died young. James died in Ohio, unmarried.
Joel Leavitt is a pronounced Democrat and has been a director of his school district for several years, taking a loyal interest in local affairs of a public nature.
J. D. LELAND
The safe and conservative conduct of a financial institution plays an important part in the substantial development of a city and community. The part which the First Na- tional Bank of Durand has contributed in this direction has been inestimable as a financial factor to Durand's rapid commercial develop- ment. The organization of this institution took place August 8, 1898, as the Bank of Du- rand and in July, 1900, it was changed from a state to a national bank. The first board of directors comprised O. H. Hobart, N. P. Le- land, W. L. Scribler, Benjamin Geer, F. A. Millard, A. Derham, L. Loucks, F. G. Bailey and J. D. Leland. The first executive officers
were president, Luther Locks; vice-president, O. H. Hobart ; and cashier, J. D. Leland. It had a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars, all paid in at the opening of the bank. The present board of directors numbers its members as follows: L. Loucks, N. P. Le- land, J. D. Leland, C. S. Reed, J. F. Hutton, F. C. Gale, M. D. Geer, B. W. Calkins and George Brooks. The present president is L. Loucks; vice-president, N. P. Leland; and cashier, J. D. Leland. The surplus on hand now is six thousand dollars and until this year the bank has paid its stockholders four per cent. semi-annually, but now are paying three per cent., in order that they may increase their surplus more rapidly. The First Na- tional Bank has on deposit three hundred thousand dollars, as much as any bank in the state with twenty-five thousand dollars capital. To the growth and development of this insti- tution J. D. Leland, its efficient cashier, has contributed his best efforts, with gratifying success.
A native of the old Empire state, Mr. Le- land was born in Orleans county, New York, March 22, 1845, being a son of J. W. and Phebe (Austin) Leland, natives of New York. The father came to Michigan in 1851 and lo- cated in Sciota township, Shiawassee county. He died in 1856 and his wife in 1865.
Our subject, the second in a family of six children, acquired his early education in the district schools and after six years of such training he attended the Corunna high school, after leaving which he taught in the grammar department for one year. His brother Mahlon resides in Kansas, and his brother William H. lives near Mount Pleasant, Michigan.
September 1, 1870, our subject entered the First National Bank at Corunna and was there twenty years, as bookkeeper, assistant cashier and finally cashier. He then went to Saginaw and was assistant cashier in the Bank of Saginaw. From there he came to Durand, in 1898, and organized the bank of which he is now cashier.
Politically, Mr. Leland is in full sympathy
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with the principles of the Prohibition party. He firmly believes that the legalized licensed saloon is the one great enemy of the home, the school, and the church, and, as a natural sequence, the natural enemy of man. He views the liquor business as conducted in this country as the great destroyer of human hap- piness and the greatest curse and danger to our American institutions and to our Chris- tian civilization. As the friend of humanity, he is the sworn enemy of this monster vice of the twentieth century. In 1904 he was the candidate of his party for regent of the Uni- versity of Michigan. Religiously, Mr. Leland is a valued member and communicant of the Episcopal church, recognized as a consistent Christian gentleman.
Mr. Leland has somewhat of inventive genius in his makeup, having recently in- vented the Eureka adding-machine carriage, a very practical yet simple device, which is espe- cially adapted to be used with the Burroughs adding machine, but which is 'equally adapted to any other machine and to typewriters as well. He has had the carriage patented and it is being used quite extensively in banks and offices. As an indication of its merits, Mr. Le- land is in receipt of many commendatory and enquiring letters from all parts of the country. Mr. Leland also wrote a form for bank books, which is coming into general use.
J. D. Leland was married June 22, 1870, to Cordelia, daughter of Dr. J. H. Hascall, who was an early settler of Shiawassee county. To them has been born one daughter, Irene, the wife of F. William Nothwagle, cashier of the State Bank of Byron. Mr. Nothwagle had charge of all German taught in the west side schools of Saginaw for nine years prior to assuming his present work
Our subject is a thirty-second degree Mason, was high priest of the chapter and master of the lodge for six years, is a member of all Masonic bodies of Corunna, was first high priest of Durand chapter and is a member of the Knights of the Maccabees and the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows.
J. D. Leland has figured as a capable finan- cier of. the First National Bank of Durand and is a man of more, than ordinary ability. Being of an unassailable reputation, he en- joys the highest confidence and esteem not only of his associates ·but also of the numer- ous depositors of this institution.
CLARENCE C. LEROY
The early struggles of some of the men who have made a financial success of life are worthy of recountal and make most interest- ing reading. We cannot too often, in this country of freedom and opportunity, repeat the story of the man who by his own industry and honesty has provided himself with a splendid home and gained the respect and confidence of all who know him.
Clarence C. Leroy was born at Long Lake, in Livingston county, Michigan, on the 13th of September, 1852. His father, George Le- roy, was also a native of Livingston county, and for many years conducted a hotel at Long Lake. On the breaking out of the civil war he enlisted in the army and has never since been heard from. The mother's maiden name was Catherine Runyan. She is also a native of Livingston county, and at present is resid- ing at Corunna, in her eighty-third year. Un- happily, the parents separated when subject was but a child, leaving him to make his home with his grandparents, where he resided until he had arrived at the age of twelve years, during this time attending school at what is known as the Riggs school house, on the plains. The grandfather with whom our sub- ject resided in his boyhood was known as Judge Leroy and was one of the most distin- guished pioneers of Livingston county.
After our subject had passed his twelfth year, with a strong little heart but with tender muscles he commenced to work on a farm near Pontiac, being thus engaged for a period of four years. He then went to Davenport, Iowa, where he worked upon a farm one year.
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Returning to his native state he worked one year for Harvey Judd, who resided near Pontiac, and one year for John Northwood, of Saginaw county. . He then came to the township which was to be his future home, la- boring for four years upon the farm of Free- man Turner. It was while laboring for Mr. Turner that our subject had the good fortune to form the acquaintance of the splendid girl who fate had decreed should eventually be- come his helpmeet.
At the age of twenty-two years he had pur- chased eighty acres of wild land in Hazelton township, on section 8. Upon this land he erected a log cabin and there he lived alone for four years and, with strong arm and heart that knew no such word as fail, he felled the forest and started to cultivate the land which was afterward to prove one of the most pro- ductive farms in the county. Living alone is not an attractive life, and our subject having made sufficient start was happily united in marriage with the girl whom he had met and loved five years before. Hattie L. Felton was born in Genesee county, August 14, 1859. She is a daughter of Chester and Anna (Wood) Felton, who reside near Flushing. Chester Felton is a native of the state of New York, but came in an early day to Genesee county, Michigan, where he met and married his wife, who is a native of England, and who came to this country when she was three years old. Mr. Felton afterward moved to Hazelton township, where he purchased eighty acres of land. Good fortune permitted him to retire about eight years ago.
The union of subject and his wife has been blessed by the birth of four children. Arthur Garfield was born January 2, 1880, and mar- ried Clara Adams, of Hazelton township; they have two children. Floyd E., who was born December 23, 1882, and who is single and at home. Earl Wesley was born July 14, 1889, and lives at home. Howard was born July 21, 1896, and resides at home. Subject belongs to the Republican party. He is a member of the Free Methodist church. He has added
forty acres to his original purchase; the sec- ond piece of land lies at a distance of about three-quarters of a mile from the original homestead. When we behold his fine farm and think that it has all come by his individual toil we feel like saying, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
GARDNER W. LINDLEY
Gardner W. Lindley, postmaster of Vernon, and a prominent, though not an aggressive Republican, as well as a well known business man of the locality; is a native of. the Empire state, having been born in Rochester, New York, in November, 1857. He is a son of Daniel W. and Lucy M. Lindley. His father was a native of Massachusetts and his mother of New York. When the family first came to Michigan it was the intention of the father to engage in farming, and he bought land in Venice township, with this purpose in view, but his health failed, and he was obliged to return to Rochester. Although by trade a car- penter he was unable at this time to follow that vocation and accepted the position of tollkeeper, dying in 1859, while thus employed. In early life the deceased was a Whig, the Re- publican party coming into being only a few years before his death, and he was one of the pioneers of the latter political organization. His wife survived him by twenty-eight years, the date of her death being 1887.
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