USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches > Part 55
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ship. She was married three times-first to the father of Harvey J., second to Daniel B. Holcomb, and third to Levi McCarn, who sur- vives her and lives with Harvey. Mr. Mc- Carn was born in Tompkins county, New York, April 26, 1819. He came to Genesee county, Michigan, in 1850 and bought eighty acres of wild land. He cleared some of it . and afterward sold it. He then bought eighty acres, partly improved, and cleared the re- mainder. He lived there fourteen years, and in 1876 he went to Missouri, where he spent three winters. In 1878 he returned to the home of Harvey J., and has remained. there since. When our subject sold his farm at Ratville, he went two miles west and bought forty acres, ten acres of which were improved and contained a log house and stable. He re- claimed most of the remainder and lived there nine years. He then sold the farm and re- moved to Oscoda, where he worked in a saw- mill one summer. He then returned to Hazel- ton and bought the grist and saw-mill at Rat- ville. This he conducted for one and one- half years, and then traded for forty acres of land north of there. Three-fourths of this was improved. An inferior house and barn were on the place, but he bought a house al- ready built and moved it onto the premises and improved the rest of the land. Mr. Pat- terson remained on this farm until' March, 1902, when he returned to the old homestead to care for his mother and stepfather. For this he received a deed to fifty acres of the old farm, thirty acres being given to his eld- est brother. Mr. Patterson now owns ninety acres. On August 9, 1868, he married Mary Elizabeth Sawyer, who was born April 28, 1852. She is a daughter of Harry Sawyer, who was born in New York state, in 1827, and who died in the army in 1865. Her mother is living in Chesaning, Michigan. Mrs. Patterson's parents located in Ingham county, Michigan, in 1861, and there her father was a hoop-maker. At one time he rented a farm in Ingham township, Ingham county. In the fall of 1864 he enlisted in Company B, Eighth Michigan Cavalry, and
FOUR GENERATIONS
MRS. CARRIE EDITH KING
HARVEY J. PATTERSON
MRS. PRUDENCE MC CARN HAZEL KING
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died from sickness contracted in the war at Nicholsville, Tennessee, January 2, 1865. Mr. Patterson's wife was the first of five chil- dren, a brief record concerning the others be- ing as follows: Ida, born in New York state, June 25, 1857, lives at Oscoda, Michigan. She married Daniel Schultz and they have three children-Erie, Bessie and William. Minnie A., born in New York state, October 17, 1860, lives in Hazelton township. She married James Dillon, and they have seven children-Matthew, George, Grover, Mamie, Harry, Erie and Thomas. Lucinda, born in Ingham county, Michigan, October 7, 1862, lives at Chesaning, Michigan. She married George Nason and has four children-Lulu, Nellie, Robert and Henry. Hattie, born July 25, 1864, lives in Brady township, Saginaw county, Michigan. She married George Smithi and has three children-Fred, Sophia and William.
Mr. and Mrs. Patterson have three chil- dren. Carrie Edith, born August 24, 1869, married Frank King, and they live on the forty-acre farm north of Ratville, owned by his father. They have three children-Hazel, born June 18, 1895 ; Mildred, born in Septem- ber, 1896, and Leslie, born March 3, 1901. Hattie, born April 23, 1877, lives in Toledo, Ohio; she married George Golden and they have one child-Harvey J., born April 17, 1897. Eva, born January 13, 1881, lives at Kirby, Michigan; she married Allen Brunson and they have no children.
Mr. and Mrs. Patterson are professors of religion, but not members of any church. He is a Republican and has filled the office of highway commissioner. He has been a mem- ber of the Patrons of Industry and the Inde- pendent Order of Good Templars.
WILLIAM E. PAYNE
Commercial life has come to be recognized as a game of chance, and the man who can die before he encounters bankruptcy is con- sidered fortunate. There are but few Napo- leons, and whenever a man finds he can do
one thing well it will be fortunate for him if he can be content to stand by that solitary thing. In the gentleman whose name heads this sketch we have an example of that perti- nacity and push which cannot fail to win in the battle of business life.
Mr. Payne is a native of Isabella county, Michigan, where he was born February 9, 1863-a memorable period in the nation's his- tory, since the greatest war of modern times, if not of all times, was then in progress. He is a son of William F. and Rosanna Payne, both natives of the Empire state. The for- mer was born May 27, 1832, and died Novem- ber 4,, 1889; his widow still lives and is a resident of Owosso. Our subject received his early education in the district schools in Ben- nington township, Shiawassee county, and at the age of sixteen years entered the high school in Corunna, where he remained for two years. At the age of eighteen years he associated himself with the First National Bank of Corunna, his object being to gain a practical knowledge of bookkeeping. He con- tinued with that institution six months. For three years after this he was engaged in teach- ing school, but he did not like this occupa- tion, however, despite the words of the poet, who thought it a
Delightful task! to rear the tender thought, To teach the young idea how to shoot.
Mr. Payne next removed to the northern peninsula of Michigan, where he entered the employ of the Northwestern Railroad Com- pany, and while thus engaged he learned civil engineering. He remained with that com- pany until the end of 1888, when he severed his connection with it, the illness of his father rendering it necessary for him to return home and take care of his honored father. One year afterward, November 4, 1889, his father died. While thus at home our subject engaged in gardening, in company with his brother, E. J. Payne, who lives in Owosso. In 1895 he sold his interest in that business to his brother. He next engaged in the agricultural imple- ment business in Owosso in partnership with
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W. L. Crowe, under the name of Crowe & Payne. During the big fire in that city, in September, 1898, their establishment was de- stroyed, together with nearly all its contents, involving a heavy loss, with little insurance. This, of course, proved a hard blow, but did not dishearten our subject by any means, as he is not the kind to be thus discouraged. However, it seemed to be a turning point in his affairs ; for, as Shakespeare says,
There is a tide in the affairs of men Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune ; Omitted, all the voyage of their life Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
Mr. Payne obeyed the injunction of the im- mortal bard of Avon and, taking the "tide at its flood," has, since the fire, "rushed on to fortune," for before the embers of the con- flagration died out he purchased the lots on which the burned building was situated and constructed the fine brick structure in which he has since done business. The time occu- pied in erecting this store was just ten weeks. The new building is one hundred and twenty- two feet in depth and forty-four in width, two stories high, with a basement under the whole. The fire did not stop the firm's business, how- ever, as they continued to wait on customers and sell goods under the blue vault of heaven. In February, 1900, our subject purchased the interest of Mr. Crowe in the business and formed a copartnership with George M. Gra- ham, under the firm name of W. E. Payne & Company. This arrangement continued until 1905, when Mr. Payne became the sole owner of the establishment, and he now conducts the business in his own name. He keeps a splen- did and varied stock of goods in his line, such as Clark & Company's buggies, the Pontiac Buggy Company's carriages, Pontiac Spring Wagon Company's buggie's, Prouty & Glass. buggies, Milburn farm wagons and "'Pon Honor" buggies, cutters, fur coats, beet tools, Planet, Jr., beet tools, the great McCormick machines, Syracuse plows, the Kalamazoo reed spring-tooth harrows, Dunham land rollers,
Empire drills, Fleck's condition powders, the best farm fertilizers, the Great Western end- less-apron manure spreaders, Maud S. and Red Jacket pumps, cast-iron tank heaters, John Deere Swath or Windrow hay or bean loaders, Dain hay and bean side-delivery rakes, haying tools of all kinds, Birdsell "Monitor, Jr." clover hullers, Advance sep- arators, with compound engine, "Iron Age" garden and farm tools, the "Improved Caledo- nia" bean harvesters, harnesses, robes, blan- kets, fly-nets, etc. In short, there is not a more complete establishment of the kind in the entire state and none but the best goods are kept in stock. The volume of business annually is about fifty thousand dollars. Five salesmen are employed, with a lady stenog- rapher. J. H. Payne, a cousin of our sub- ject, is his able and courteous assistant in managing the details of this prosperous and growing concern. Mr. Payne carries a stock of from ten thousand to twelve thousand dol- lars. The establishment throughout is very conveniently and tastefully arranged, and the office is a model of neatness.
Mr. Payne is one of a family of fourteen children: Ida L., Hazel J., Martha A., Will- iam E., Edgar J., Harmon, Allen (died in in- fancy), Charles (died in infancy), Cora (now Mrs. Burrell Hardy), Ralph E. (now lives in Owosso), Edna, Leora, Lena and Cynthia.
Mr. Payne was married February 15, 1899, to Emma Hicks, of Corunna, Michigan. Two children have resulted from this union-Har- old, who died in infancy, and Ruth E., born April 17, 1903. Mr. Payne is identified with several social and fraternal orders, being a member of the Owosso lodge of Elks, No. 753 ; the Masonic blue lodge and chapter, the Knights of Pythias and the Maccabees. In political matters he acts independently, voting for the best men, as he views them. Our sub- ject is a splendid example of a self-made man, having forged his way to the front by integ- rity, energy and ability. It is unnecessary to state that he stands high, not only in the city in which he lives, but also in the entire region hereabout.
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CHARLES M. PEACOCK
Scholarly men and those who live retired lives often look with astonishment at the busy, rushing and enterprising life of those busi- ness men who are known as "hustlers." Their activities are so vigorous and their push and perseverance so undaunted that the wonder is that they do not wear out during their early years and that so many of them retain their vigor till they have had time to win the suc- cess for which they are working.
The gentleman of whom we write is a prominent druggist of the city of Corunna. He was born in Wayne county, New York, January 16, 1850, and is the son of Horace and Angeline (Button) Peacock, natives of New York, where the father's birth occurred in March, 1819.
Horace Peacock came to Michigan in 1855 and followed the calling of a contractor and builder until a few years before his death, when he was engaged in the fruit-evaporating business. He was alderman of the third ward of the city of Corunna for nine or ten years, was a Republican in politics, and both he and his wife were members of the Baptist church. He died March 18, 1888, and his widow is living with her son Frank in Corunna.
Our subject is one of eight children, of whom five are now living: Frank is in the of- fice of the register of deeds, in Corunna ; James J. is justice of the peace in Corunna ; Albert F., born September 20, 1851, married Jennie Mead and they live at South Bend, In- diana, and have two children ; Edgar J. lives at Schoolcraft, Michigan; Sarah died at the age of nineteen years and two girls died in infancy.
Our subject was educated in the city schools of Corunna and at the age of nineteen years started out for himself, by clerking in a drug store. Previously to this, however, he was for a, short time engaged in a grocery store. In 1881 he became proprietor of the drug store where he is now engaged in business, and where he has met with continued success.
June 10, 1880, our subject was united in
marriage to Catherine, daughter of Joseph N. and Mary J. (Colton) Lemon. She was born in Corunna, June 12, 1860. Mrs. Peacock's mother is dead and her father is living in Co- runna. Mrs. Peacock's father was twice mar- ried and she was one of four children by the first marriage. By the second marriage there were two children. Mr. and Mrs. Peacock have one child, Louise, who was born Feb- ruary 14, 1884, and who was graduated in the state normal school at Ypsilanti in June, 1905.
Charles M. Peacock has always been a sup- porter of the Republican party and socially is a member of the Masonic order and the Maccabees. Mr. Peacock is an influential citizen and is counted as one of the reliable men of his city.
FREDERICK W. PEARCE
"Michigan, my Michigan," has produced thousands of sterling and worthy self-made business men-men with great merit and ability along special lines; but it would be difficult to name a man in the state who has apparently made a better success of life thus far than the gentleman whose name heads this article. It has been truthfully said that "on their own merits modest men are dumb." Verily, this may be said of our subject; but he does things, and has done a great deal. More, he is doing things now. He is a factor in the arena of activity. "Heaven," as has been said, "never helps the men who will not act." As the poet Longfellow says :
Let us then be up and doing, With a heart for any fate ; Still achieving, still pursuing, Learn to labor and to wait.
Frederick W. Pearce was born October 21, 1868, in Fairfield township, Shiawassee county. He is of English extraction, in the agnatic line, his father, H. G. Pearce, having been born in England, and his mother, Lucy (Preston) Pearce was a native-born Ameri- can. Our subject attended the district schools
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in Fairfield township until he reached the age of fifteen years. Then he entered the high school in Ovid, after graduating in which he taught school for four years, in Shiawassee county. After this he took a commercial course in Valparaiso, Indiana, graduating in 1882. Then he entered the real estate office of Detwiler & Company in Toledo, Ohio, where he continued for two years. He went to Oakley, Michigan, where he engaged in a general mercantile trade. He remained there
FREDERICK W. PEARCE
eight years, after which he returned to Owosso and organized the Owosso Hardware Company, which soon enjoyed a large and lu- crative business. He continued this for five years, when he consolidated with Daniel G. Gerow, under the name of Pearce & Gerow. They thus combined the hardware, furniture and undertaking business in one mammoth concern. They have eighteen hundred square feet of floor space, and in addition to this they utilize the basement under both floors. They also use the floors over the Davis dry-goods store. A detailed description of this big con- cern is also given in the sketch of Daniel J. Gerow in another part of this volume. They
have the only passenger elevator in Owosso, a convenience their customers thoroughly ap- preciate. The firm have an enormous stock of the best hardware, furniture and caskets which can be procured, and as a result have a fine, lucrative business. They employ twelve clerks and two delivery men. Mr. Pearce is also president of the hardware firm of Pearce & Company, of Elsie, Michigan, which con- ducts a large business. His success in life represents but the natural rewards that come to men of intelligence and integrity, energy and push.
Mr. Pearce is a most agreeable and progres- sive gentleman. In politics he is a Republi- can, but is not an office-seeker, preferring rather to remain in the private ranks of life and devote his best energies to his business affairs and social duties. While at Oakley, referred to above, he was postmaster from 1886 to 1900, inclusive.
Mr. Pearce was married March 15, 1893, to Nina E. Palmer, daughter of George D. Palmer, of Henderson, Shiawassee county. They became the parents of five children, as follows: Harold F., born December 15, 1893, died April 7, 1894; Howard W. was born April 10, 1895; Gertrude E. was born Au- gust 28, 1899, and died December 28, 1899; Marie G. was born July 20, 1901, and Law- rence G. was born December 14, 1904.
Mr. and Mrs. Pearce are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and he is a member of the board of trustees. Mr. Pearce is a member of the Owosso Masonic Lodge, No. 81, and he is also an Elk. It is not necessary to close this sketch by remark- ing that he is highly respected by the commu- nity generally, as there is not a gentleman in Owosso who is held in higher esteem.
CAD. BENJAMIN PELTON
One of the greenest spots in the memory of this gentleman is his army experience-not that he loved war, but the fact that he was an actor in the dreadful struggle for national
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existence affords a sort of consolation that cannot be explained on paper. Indeed, this is something that the average veteran is infin- itely more proud of than of the possession of mere material wealth. At the sound of the bugle, in August, 1861, Cad. B. Pelton, then in the vigor of early manhood, enlisted in Company B, Seventh Michigan Infantry. This regiment left Monroe for Virginia Sep- tember 5, 1861, in command of Colonel Gros- venor, numbering eight hundred and eighty- four officers and enlisted men. The regiment lay on the upper Potomac during the winter and was engaged in the disastrous action at Ball's Bluff. In the spring of 1862 the regi- ment followed McClellan to the peninsula. Our subject remained in the service for three years and one month. During this period he was detailed as a government scout, but par- ticipated with his regiment in the battles of Fair Oaks, May 31 to June 1, 1862; Freder- icksburg, December 11, 12 and 13, 1862, and Gettysburg, July 1, 2 and 3, 1863. An amus- ing incident is chronicled in connection with this gallant regiment while it was forming at Fort Wayne. It seems that one C. M. Walk- er, a young lawyer, who was very short in stature, rendered so by shortness of legs, was extremely anxious to enlist. One morning be- fore the colonel reached his office the young man seated himself at the colonel's table. The colonel entered and sat down, when the young man said: "Colonel, I want to enlist in your regiment ; please give an order for an officer to muster me in." The colonel looked at him; he appeared healthy and strong and appar- ently of sufficient height, as he sat at the table. The colonel replied, "Certainly," and wrote the desired order. When the young man rose to leave, the colonel, discovering that the young man was but little higher when on his feet than when sitting down, exclaimed, "Hold on, I do not know about this!" But the young man hastily left, saying, "Never mind about my legs, colonel, they are of the growing kind." He was accepted and became a capable officer.
At the close of the war Cad. B. Pelton, as
he is familiarly called, located at Vernon and engaged in the grocery business, continuing in that line for two years. Later he rented a farm in Shiawassee township, operating the same for three years. He then purchased fifty-five acres in Caledonia township, where he resided until two years ago, when he re- tired from active agricultural life and removed to the city of Corunna. When he first moved upon the land it was quite wild and unim- proved, but under his good management it was transformed into a modern, comfortable home. After selling the homestead he bought a residence and a small piece of land in Co- runna, where he now resides with his wife.
Mr. Pelton is a native of Oswego county, New York, where he was born October 8, 1840. His father, Platt Pelton, was likewise born in the Empire state, and died in 1846, at the early age of thirty-six years. By trade he was a blacksmith, and he first came to Michigan in June, 1845, remaining in Clay- ton, Genesee county, until the following De- cember, when he located in Corunna, with the idea of making that place his home. Although he worked at his trade whenever possible he lived only a year thereafter. His wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Clement, survived him fifteen years, dying in 1861 at the age of forty-five. She contracted a second marriage. Five children were born to her by her first union.
Mr. Pelton's early education was acquired in the schools of Corunna and Detroit, some of the higher branches being pursued in By- ron. . He proved a most dutiful and loving son and assisted his widowed mother until the time of her death as chronicled above.
October 16, 1867, our subject was married to Miss Emma Smith, a daughter of Thomas and Melinda (McCrea) Smith, both natives of New York state. Mrs. Pelton was born October 6, 1845, and her father on March 7, 1802. Both her parents are dead, her mother dying in April, 1853, at the age of fifty years, and her father surviving her mother for nearly forty years, passing away August 20, 1891, at the venerable age of eighty-nine. At the
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time of his death he was one of the oldest set- tlers of Vernon township, having located there in 1850 and having passed the remain- der of his days within its limits. He was the father of nine children, six of whom are living.
To Mr. and Mrs. Pelton have been born four children : Fred, who was born June 2, 1872, married Mrs. Tobias, and is an express- man at Clare, Michigan ; Nellie is the wife of Ernest Desbrough, a New Haven farmer ; Mary is now Mrs. Austin, of Caledonia, and Harry R., born August 5, 1882, died January 12, 1905, a bachelor.
Mr. Pelton has always been a Republican and has creditably filled several public offices. He served as highway commissioner for two terms and justice of the peace for twelve years. He has also been closely and promi- nently identified with the Pioneer Society, having served as second vice-president of the organization, and was recently elected to the first vice-presidency. Corunna has no better or more highly respected citizen than Cad. B. Pelton.
FORREST B. PERRY
At the age of twenty-three years Forrest B. Perry began life for himself, in Waterford township, Oakland county, Michigan. His first venture was the purchase of an improved eighty-acre farm, in 1880. He owned this property two years, and he next bought eighty acres in White Lake township, in the same county. He owned this one year. He then engaged in the meat business, in Meta- mora, Michigan, continuing this enterprise for one year. He then sold out and returned to farming, buying forty acres of wild land in Hazelton township. He moved into a shanty, cleared the land and in 1893 added forty acres of improved land. In 1895 he sold twenty acres of the first forty acres and purchased forty acres more of cultivated land. He has built a frame house, barns, granary, etc. In 1893 he secured by purchase the old home- stead of eighty acres. The same year he
traded it, taking in part payment the second forty acres purchased in Hazelton township. In 1902 he bought a house and lot in New Lothrop, where he has since resided, con- ducting his farm from that place. He bu1; s stock in the fall and sells the same to ship- pers. He was the first of eight children. The others are enumerated below: William, who died in Missouri, married Clara Button, and had one child-Sophia; Belle, who lives in the state of Washington, married W. A. Carr and has no children; Mattie, who also lives in Washington, married Major M. A. Draper, and they have three children,-Ray, Florence and Russell; Eldon, who lives at Flint, married Mattie Lewis, and has no chil- dren; Annie, single, is a bookkeeper at Flint ; Arthur, who lives in Lansing, is married and has three children ; Milton, who is single, also lives in Lansing.
October 1, 1879, Mr. Perry married Elnora B. Addis, who was born February 8, 1861. Mrs. Perry's father, William Addis, was a pioneer of Oakland county, Michigan, where he still lives. The mother of Mrs. Perry was Elizabeth (Buzzard) Addis, who is a daugh- ter of Joseph Buzzard, an early settler in Oakland county ; he secured one hundred and twenty acres from the government and lived there until his death, having cleared the land and erected good buildings. Mrs. . Perry's father was born in New Jersey. He came to Oakland county at an early day and secured one hundred and twenty acres of government land, near Clarkston, clearing the land and erecting frame buildings thereon.
Mrs. Perry was the first of five children. The others are Grace, who in Howell, Michi- gan, married W. H. S. Wood, and they have three children,-Pauline, Ruth and Bernice. Lizzie, who lives in Corunna, Michigan, mar- ried W. A. McMullen, mayor of Corunna, and their two children are deceased. Stella, who lives in Ortonville, Michigan, married Will- iam Warner, and has one child. William, who lives in Brandon township, Oakland county, married Ethel Brunson; they have no children.
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