Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches, Part 49

Author:
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Lansing, Mich. : Hist. Pub.
Number of Pages: 580

USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches > Part 49

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In 1861 Mr. Lindley became a permanent resident of Michigan, when he was four years of age, two years after the death of his father. He was educated in the district and the public schools, coming to Vernon in January, 1873. After leaving school he engaged in various lines of industry, although principally confin- ing himself to house-painting and paper-hang- ing. He was thus employed until December, 1888, when he established a shoe business, which he conducted until 1894. Mr. Lindley then returned to his old lines of employment, continuing to follow them until he was ap- pointed postmaster of Vernon, July 1, 1899.

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January 1, 1885, he was married to Mary E. Sherman, who was born at Coldwater, Michigan, January 9, 1866, and who came of a good New York family. Her father, who had been a resident of Michigan for a num- ber of years, was engaged in the marble busi- ness at St. Johns, and later in Vernon for some time. He was a Democrat in politics, an Episcopalian in religion, and was a stead- fast and highly respected citizen. Both of Mrs. Lindley's parents are dead.

Mr. and Mrs. Lindley have one child-a son, Harold S., who was born April 15, 1889, and who is a student in the Vernon high school, in the tenth grade. Mr. Lindley has always been an active, consistent Republican in politics, and here, as in other fields of life, he is known as a man of deeds rather than of words. His fellow citizens had recognized his usefulness before the national administration made him postmaster, as he had already held the office of village treasurer two terms and that of village clerk four terms. He has also been actively identified with various secret and benevolent societies, especially the Masonic fraternity, the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen. In his religious affiliations he is a Congregationalist.

CLEMENT B. LOYNES

This gentleman is a native of Troy, New York, where he was born July 2, 1830. In 1852 he bought forty acres of government land in Fairfield township, where he now lives. After locating this land he returned to Ohio, where he remained until September, 1857. He then brought his family to his new home and built a log house and stable. Not a tree was there cut between his house and Elsie, a distance of five miles. Mr. Loynes has built and assisted in building most of the roads in his locality. In 1874 he built a frame barn and ten years afterward a frame house. In 1869 he bought eighty acres more of wild . land, on section 13, which he has since im- proved. He has since divided his property sachusetts, in June, 1827, died in Fairfield

among his children. He started for himself at the age of eighteen years and worked for twenty-five and fifty cents a day. His father was Columbus Loynes, a native of Massa- chusetts, where he was born in 1794, and he died at Columbia, Ohio, in 1876. The latter's wife was Achsah Buck and was born in Mans- field, Massachusetts. She survived her hus- band and died in Columbia, Ohio. After the marriage of this couple they took up their home at Troy, New York, where Mr. Loynes worked as a moulder. In 1835 he went to Lorain county, Ohio, and bought one hun- dred and sixteen acres, mostly wild land, in Columbia township. He built a log house and cleared one hundred acres. He lived there at the time of his death.

October 23, 1851, Clement B. Loynes was married to Calista Ensign, in New York state ; she was born October 3, 1835. The result of this union is five children, four of whom are living. Chas. E., born April 15, 1853, married Lizzie E. Goodell, March 27, 1881, and they had three children,-Hugh, Harold and Vena, the last being deceased. They lived in Clinton county. Lizzie M., born September 29, 1853, married Wright C. Sawyer, August 7, 1875, and they have five children: Pearl married Maine O'Dell, is now studying law in De- troit; Edna married William Peters, and they have two children, Kenneth and a baby ; Lyle, Elma and Eva are the younger children of the Sawyer family. Frankie, born October 11, 1860, died March 9, 1861. Lewis H., born April 25, 1868, lives in Fairfield. He married Pearl E. Johnston, May 20, 1888, and has three sons, Joseph, John and Colon. D., born October 23, 1877, married Emma Snyder Oc- tober 23, 1905, his marriage occurring on D.'s birthday and his father's fifty-fourth wedding anniversary.

Mr. Loynes is the third of six children. Columbus Christopher, born in Massachusetts, in June, 1824, lives in Fairfield township; he married Maria Fuller and they had two chil- dren-Ira and Byron. Comfort, born in Mas-

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township; he married Mary B. Ensign, now dead, and they had four children,-Jane, Cas- sius, Sara and Delbert. Charles C., born in Troy, New York, in June, 1832, lives in Cleveland, Ohio; he married Caroline Smith and had four children,-Leonard, Annie (dead), Etta and Lottie. Achsah, born in Troy, New York, in 1831, lives in Brunswick, Ohio; she married George Bennett and had one child,-Caddie. Cornelius C., born in Ohio, in 1842, lives in Cass county, Michigan ; he married Mary Hill and had one child,- Frank.

The father of Mrs. Loynes was Rev. Eras- tus Ensign, who was born in Ontario county, New York, April 7, 1808, and who died at the home of his daughter February 13, 1889. He was a Free Will Baptist minister. After his marriage, in New York state, he removed to Ohio, in 1831. He bought some wild land and cleared it. Subsequently he was con- verted, and he preached at different intervals before his death. The mother of Mrs. Loynes, whose parents were married October 7, 1830, was Elizabeth Prouty, who was a native of New York, where she was born September 28, 1811. Mrs. Loynes was the fourth of seven children, who are enumerated below: Lorenzo and twin were born May 23, 1831; the baby died when it was born and Lorenzo died June 26, 1831. Mary R., born in Ohio, September 14, 1831, died December 22, 1899, having married Comfort D. Loynes. Erastus William, born October 4, 1839, died Septem- ber 10, 1840. Martha R., born August 11, 1845, married Loren Frisbee, and had one daughter,-Alma. Betsy Jane married Wil- liam Barber, and bore two daughters,-Mary and Maude.

When Mr. Loynes first came to Michigan he worked for fifty cents a day to buy salt and potatoes, and one spring he worked twenty-two days for eleven bushels of wheat,- the price of the latter being one dollar per bushel ; then he had to carry it on his back for a distance of four miles. A man hauled to mill for him and charged a' shilling per bushel

for doing so. His hogs were killed by bears when he first located in Fairfield. He did not have a gun but used to hunt mink with a dog. Many a time in the early days it has taken him from one to two o'clock in the morning to get his cows home from the woods to milk. Mrs. Loynes is a member of the M. E. church. He is a Republican, has been justice of the peace for sixteen years, highway commissioner onc term and a school officer for many years. His parents were Methodists. Mr. Loynes' motto in life seems to have been, "Work first and then rest." He has certainly gained for him- self and family a splendid home and a beau- tiful farm. These, with the good opinion of his neighbors and friends galore, leave little to be desired.

SAMUEL LUCAS

The subject of this memoir was an honored citizen of Caledonia township, and his widow, Anna J. Lucas, is the proprietor of valuable farming property, both in Oakland and Shia- wassee counties. Mr. Lucas was an English- man, born in 1835, and died in 1870, at the age of thirty-five. There were seven children in the family, the only one living in this coun- try being Richard Lucas, a resident of Tus- cola county, Michigan. His parents lived and died in the mother country, and Samuel Lucas himself came to America in his early manhood.

In the year 1865 our subject was united in marriage to Miss Anna Jane Taylor, a native of Newbury, Oakland county, where she was born October 5, 1835. She is a daughter of Andrew Taylor, who was born in county Down, Ireland, and who died sixteen years ago, at the age of eighty-six years, and of Eliza (Stewart) Taylor, who was a native of the Empire state, and who died twenty-three years ago, at the age of seventy.

Mr. Taylor was not content to plod along under the discouragements attending the life of a farmer in the Emerald Isle, and when a

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young man emigrated to America, first locat- ing in New York state. As he reached the shores of the "promised land" without money or friends, he at once commenced work as a farm hand, and, thus engaged, remained with his employer for a period of fourteen years. He married in New York state and located in Michigan in 1840, being then about thirty- seven years of age. This sturdy and indus- trious pioneer located in Oakland county, his farm comprising one hundred and sixty acres of wild land, which he cleared, improved and fashioned into a comfortable homestead. A tract of eighty acres was afterward added to the original farm; and here both he and his good wife passed their remaining days. The eighty acres last mentioned came into the pos- session of Mrs. Lucas, the present owner.

Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, of whom Mrs. Lucas is the eldest. Ruth Isabella, the second-born, is the wife of George Ramsey, and is a resident of the state of Washington. The third child, Eliza Ann, is unmarried and lives on the old farm in Oak- land county, as does also David, a bachelor. Mary Ellen, the fifth in the family of children, died several years ago, and was followed by Margaret, the next born, within a few days.

It was during the year of his marriage, 1865, that Mr. Lucas located in Caledonia township, where he bought eighty acres of land, only partially improved, and built a log house, as the beginning of the family home- stead. This building `was burned, and he built again. He was making various improve- ments until the day of his death, but the family continued to occupy the second log house, and there the widow lived until about five years ago. Mrs. Lucas then erected a handsome frame dwelling, and, with her children, has since built substantial barns and other farm structures, so that the homestead has been transformed into a model of agricultural con- venience and comfort, offering to the commun- ity one of the many substantial evidences that life, after all, is well worth the living.

Mrs. Lucas is the mother of three children,

as follows: June, now the wife of Arnold Johnson, of Henderson, Shiawassee county, was born January 18, 1866; David J., thirty- seven years of age, is single, and is at home ; Elizabeth Ann is the wife of J. J. Huffaker, who is a miner in Arizona.

EDWIN McCALL

Edwin McCall, a prosperous farmer whose property is situated near the village of Shia- wassee, is a son of one of the early pioneers of the county, and is a native of Shiawassee township, having been born near where he now lives, on the 30th of June, 1867. He is the son of J. H. McCall, who was born in New York state, on the 8th of October, 1824, and who died June 11, 1888; his widow, Emeline (Johnson) McCall, also is a native of the Empire state, where she was born March 2, 1829, and she now lives with our subject. Her parents were Thomas and Catherine (Hayner) Johnson, and were of German descent. They were born, reared and mar- ried in New York state, and came west soon after the birth of their daughter, Emeline, Mr. McCall's mother. She was one of thir- teen children, and all but two reached mature years.

' The parents of our subject were married at Fayetteville, New York, on the 16th of Febru- ary, 1854. Of the nine children born to them seven are living. About 1865, they migrated from New York to Michigan, locating in Shia- wassee village, where Mr. McCall followed his trade, that of cooper, for the first two years. He then purchased forty acres of wild land, the same tract now occupied by the widow and her son, our subject. Mr. McCall's father afterward added twenty-five acres to the original purchase, cleared and cultivated his farm and erected the present buildings, with the exception of the barn, which has been built since his death.

J. H. McCall, the deceased, was a man of

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great industry, strict integrity, and much ex- ecutive ability. Besides improving and profit- ably managing his farm for a number of years, he successfully conducted a saw mill. To his marked ability he added the faculty of making and retaining friends and customers, which accounts for the steady progress of all the en- terprises in which he engaged. He was a vot- ing Democrat, but never aspired to office, and consequently never attained it. In his re- ligious connections, he was an Episcopalian, and he was affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.

Our subject was the ninth of eleven chil- dren born to Mr. and Mrs. J. H. McCall. The first, Francis E., is living, his natal day being December 25, 1847. Martha, born June 19, 1850, is deceased. Charles William, the third born December 18, 1854, is living and unmarried. John H. died single, at the age of twenty years. Josephine, now Mrs. G. W. Sparling, born February 29, 1859, is a resident of Oregon. The sixth child, Emeline, born March 1, 1861, is Mrs. DeReese of Chicago. Elizabeth, born August 24, 1854, is the wife of Charles Whitney, of Chicago. Clara E., the eighth of the family of children, was born April 14, 1866, and is Mrs. J. W. Mills, also of Chicago. Nellie, who was born August 18, 1870, lives in Oregon, her brother Chester, born December 18, 1874, the eleventh of the children, also being a resident of that state.

Edwin McCall was educated in the village schools of Shiawassee and has always lived upon a farm. Since his father's death he has actively managed the homestead, having pur- chased the forty acres known as the Hoising- ton farm and added it to his mother's place. The combined tract gives him one of the most productive landed estates in the locality.

Mr. McCall is a Republican, but is too busy to be an officeseeker. He is social and do- mestic in his tastes. Outside of his circle of friends, his social nature finds satisfaction in. his connection with a number of secret societies -the Masonic fraternity, Knights of the Mac- cabees and the Order of the Eastern Star.

WILLIAM McCULLOCH

Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend, For the lesson thou hast taught ; Thus at the flaming forge of life Our fortunes must be wrought ; Thus on its sounding anvil shaped Each burning deed and thought. [Longfellow .- "The Village Blacksmith."]

William F. McCulloch was born in the Do- minion of Canada, January 8, 1851. He is a son of David and Sarah (Robb) McCulloch, both of whom were born in Scotland. The father died in November, 1891, and the mother is still living. The parents were married in Scotland and shortly afterward removed from . there to Canada. There the father followed his trade, that of shoemaker, afterward run- ning a general shoe and repair store. There were eleven children in the family, of whom the following are now living: Agnes, born in Scotland in 1839, married John Smith ; Janet, born in 1812, married George Toval, deceased, of Ontario, Canada ; Margaret, born in 1843, is the wife of Alexander Stewart, of Ontario, Canada; John, born in 1847, married Kate Clegg; and William F. is the subject of this sketch.

William F. McCulloch received his early education in the district schools of Ontario. When a boy he worked with his father and labored by the day at such employment as he could procure. At the age of eighteen he commenced his three years' apprenticeship at the blacksmith trade, qualifying himself for the business which he has since followed. After his apprenticeship had expired he spent some time in Canada, thoroughly mastering all details of his trade, and becoming a first- class mechanic. In 1873 he came to the city of Detroit, where he worked for a short time and then removed to the village of Laingsburg, where he opened a shop of his own. He then closed out his 'business in Laingsburg and spent some time in Canada and California, also visiting other sections of the United States. After his return from California, in 1876, he

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worked one year at his trade in Laingsburg. He then purchased property in the village of Shaftsburg, where he opened a blacksmith shop and where he has since made his home, having made good improvements on his prop- erty.

On the 21st of November, 1874, in the vil- lage of Laingsburg, Mr. McCulloch was united in marriage with Mary VanWormer. They have six children. John D., born March 13, 1876, is a train dispatcher on the Great North- ern Railroad ; William G., Jr., born May 11, 1879, is a machinist ; Frank A., born April 25, 1881, is a telegraph operator and agent on the Great Northern Railroad; Robert O., born November 21, 1886, is a telegraph operator at Flint, Mich .; Agnes S., born November 20, 1888, and Henrietta E., born October 8, 1892, remain at the parental home.

Mrs. McCulloch is a daughter of Abram VanWormer, one of the old and respected pioneers of Woodhull township. Our subject and his wife are members of the Congrega- tional church. Fraternally Mr. McCulloch is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Knights of the Maccabees. Politically he is a Democrat, and while he has not neglected his business for politics yet he has given the attention required of every good citizen. He has served many years as justice of the peace, and stills holds the office. He has also filled the offices of treasurer, moder- ator and director of his school district.

HUGH MCCURDY

Marvelous changes coming to the lives of individuals in the brief space of a decade or two have long since ceased to startle the peo- ple of this age. A few years often transform the messenger boy into the merchant prince. The day laborer becomes the millionaire, and men hitherto unknown suddenly become lead- ers in their chosen line of action. Names by the score might be cited to illustrate what has been realized along this line in all the avenues of the activities of men in periods in-

credibly short. The following interesting sketch of the more prominent events in the life .of Judge McCurdy, taken from "Free Masonry in Michigan," is most complimen- tary to Corunna's venerable citizen who has won out in the struggle for place and recogni- tion :

"Hugh McCurdy was born in Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scotland, December 22, 1829. When only eight years of age he emigrated with his parents to the United States, and set- tled for the time at Birmingham, Michigan, which the people of the east regarded as the very frontier of American civilization. The sturdy Scotch character that has since stood the man in such good stead was apparent even in the tender lad. His first stroke for fortune was made in the humble capacity of cooper's apprentice. He had early learned the lesson of doing with his might whatsoever his hand found to do, and his work as a cooper very soon began to take on those special quali- ties of excellence which have since peculiarly distinguished all his 'work' in a field with which the readers of this sketch are too well acquainted to render explanation necessary. He worked with unceasing diligence and faith- fulness so long as the business in which he was employed gave hope of any good results for the future. It so chanced that certain broad-minded men who were then prominent in that part of the territory had taken note of this sturdy lad, and by their countenance, though he did not ask for pecuniary aid, he found, or rather made, an opportunity to lay the corner stone of an education. With that purpose dominating his every hope, he en- rolled himself among the pupils of J. R. Cor- son, who had a select school at Birmingham. While pursuing his rudimentary studies there he attracted the notice of Dr. E. Raynale, who had in some way informed himself of the am- bitious student's pluck and perseverance, and who later persuaded him that the law was the field in which he ought to sow his best efforts if he would reap any commensurate harvest. The thought was audacious! To be a lawyer in those days, and to reach that eminence of

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respectability, starting from the foot with lit- tle to back his suit, might have appalled most lads. But not so, Hugh McCurdy. His hardy ancestry, his own indomitable courage and the chance that America gives to every son of toil, were enough for him to begin with, and he began the ascent without a doubt of final triumph. There was within his soul sufficient of the ego to make all possible things seem possible to him, and he very soon gave evi- dence that he had not overrated his capacity to do and to endure. While yet a student of the law he kept his fortunes moving by divers means. One of his employments was as freight agent, at Birmingham, of the old Detroit & Pontiac Railroad, when strap rails were in vogue and railroading was indeed a primitive science. In 1847 he had so far advanced in general acquirements that he was chosen to teach the village school in Birmingham, and during the following year he held a like em- ployment in the neighboring village of Royal Oak. In addition to his work of teaching he took up the classics, with C. R. Brownell as guide and tutor. Later, with the little moncy he had saved out of his scanty salary, he bought the necessary books, and after sur- mounting what sometimes seemed insuperable obstacles, he found himself actually domiciled at the Romeo Academy. Here was an achieve- ment indeed! Hope gave new strength to ambition's wing, and the now thoroughly aroused student made so good use of his pre- , cious academical opportunities that he soon mastered the curriculum and bade adieu to his latest love. His next step was as a regular student in the office of the distinguished law firm of Baldwin & Draper, of Pontiac. In 1854 he was admitted to the bar of Michigan, and his whole life since that crowning event of his tentative period has been marked by successive victories over fortune. It is a part of this personal history that S. Dow Elwood, now cashier of the Wayne County Savings Bank, of Detroit, but in 1854 the leading law stationer of Michigan, sold our subject the nucleus of his fine law library. Mr. Elwood's

attention was called to the incident recently. He remembered it perfectly and said to the writer: 'Yes, I sold Hugh his first shelf of law books and took his word that they would be paid for. He was an utter stranger to me, but there was that in his bearing-a frankness and manliness of speech, and altogether a de- termined, hopeful and confident view of life in what he said and in his manner of saying it-that I never had the slightest doubt of his honesty or of his ultimate ability to pay. I need not say that mine was one of the first

HUGH MCCURDY

debts discharged after clients began to find out the value of his professional services.'

"He had, meanwhile, with characteristic foresight, taken 'a long look ahead' and with the extension northward of the railroad, now the Detroit, Grand Haven & Milwaukee, he moved to Corunna, the capital of Shiawassee county, where he has lived continuously since he first pitched his tent there and set up his household goods. He has won material for- tune, lives in elegant refinement, still enjoys a lucrative practice, and, so far as one may.

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guess, has little left to be desired in the way of earth's rewards for work well done,-for fidelity to personal and professional trusts, and for genial benevolence that never wearies in the good and kindly offices of humanity.

"Shortly after his removal to Corunna the office of prosecuting attorney became vacant by resignation of the incumbent, and Judge Green appointed young McCurdy to fill the vacancy. In the fall of 1856 he was nominated by the Democratic convention for prosecuting attorney, and was elected by a handsome ma- jority. In 1860 he received the nomination of his party for judge of probate, and although the county gave a majority for Lincoln and the Republican state and county ticket, Mr. McCurdy ran more than a thousand ahead of his party vote and was elected by a large ma- jority. He was elected to the state senate in 1864, and immediately took rank as one of the most active and influential members of that body. Although the county of Shiawassee has been a strong Republican county ever since 1856, yet Mr. McCurdy was again elected prosecuting attorney in 1874. For many years he has been a member of the board of super- visors from a strong Republican ward-fre- quently elected without opposition-both par- ties nominating him. In 1865 Judge Mc- Curdy established the First National Bank of Corunna, of which he was president from its organization down to 1873, when he sold out his stock and withdrew from the busi- ness.

"Some years ago when his name was before the people in an important and significant pol- itical canvas, these words were written of him by a fellow townsman with whose political opinions he had always been at variance : 'The writer of these lines has known Hugh McCur- dy intimately for over thirty years and has had every opportunity to judge of his character in all that pertains to the true elements of citi- zenship. In the profession of the law he stands at the head of the bar, and in scholastic attainments, acquired under the most severe privations, he also takes rank among the fore- most. No meritorious person ever applied to

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Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches, Part 49

Author: Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Lansing, Mich. : Hist. Pub. Number of Pages: 580

Author:
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Lansing, Mich. : Hist. Pub.
Number of Pages: 580