USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches > Part 61
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Having acquired a thorough knowledge of the mercantile business he purchased a gen- eral store at the village of Shaftsburg and commenced business for himself. He con- ducted this store about two years and then disposed of it and went to the state of Wash- ington, where he clerked in a wholesale gro- cery house about ten months. 'Having acquired a knowledge of the western country, he pre- ferred his native state and returned to the vil- lage of Shaftsburg. Immediately after his re- turn to Michigan he took charge of the hotel at Shaftsburg, conducting the same for a period of two years.
In 1897 Mr. Shaft began the purchasing of grain, wool and general farm produce; he has been running the elevator at Shaftsburg
since that time, and is at present doing a thriv- ing business.
Politically he is a Democrat, and he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows. He is a public-spirited man, taking much interest in all things that look to the better- ment of the village in which he lives.
In March, 1891, Mr. Shaft was united in marriage to Ada Stears. She was born Au- gust 2, 1871, and received her early education in the village of Laingsburg. She is a daugh- ter of Samuel and Eliza Stears, and is one of a family of six children. The father was a soldier in the civil war, and for the last few years before his death was engaged in the ag- ricultural implement business at Laingsburg, where the mother still lives.
Mr. Shaft is a representative of one of the old and honored families of Shiawassee county and has well upheld the high prestige of the name he bears.
JOHN M. SHAFT
There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough hew them as we will.
Some believe these words to be literally true in the lives of men, while others totally repudi- ate the sentiment. But it seems to be a fact that cannot be successfully contradicted, that good fortune pursues some men and showers her smiles upon them, whether they will have them or not. James Lick entered San Fran- cisco with a few thousand dollars in his pocket, bought property and engaged in business in an ordinary way. The vicious village became a great city and the "squatter" became a "sov- ereign," dying worth millions. Whether it was fate or luck or pluck or foresight that in- duced John P. Shaft, father of our subject, to purchase the land, in Woodhull township, on which the village of Shaftsburg is now located, will always remain a mystery. His son, John M. Shaft, the gentleman with whom we are
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immediately concerned at this time, and whose name heads this sketch, was born in Orange county, New York, June 18, 1837. He re- ceived his early education in the log school houses of Perry and Woodhull townships. At the age of twenty-two years he purchased eighty acres of wild land, seven of which were partly improved, in Woodhull township. He erected a house and barn and set out an orchard. He continues to reside there. In 1875, while the Grand Trunk Railroad was being constructed, he erected a building for general store purposes on land previously owned by his father, where Shaftsburg is now situ- ated, the village being named in honor of that sterling pioneer, the father of our subject. He then embarked in the general mercantile busi- ness. Until the completion of the railroad he was obliged to haul his goods from Lansing and Williamston by team. He is still in the same branch of trade, with the addition of a hard- ware department, which was established in 1884, and in which he keeps a very complete stock, as he does of all lines handled. Indeed, his is a model establishment and enjoys a large and lucrative trade.
Mr. Shaft has not only been most promi- nent and successful as a business man, but has been also repeatedly honored locally as a loyal Democrat. He served as constable for a number of terms and has filled the office of town treasurer for four terms. He is identified with Lodge No. 230, Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons.
January 1, 1859, Mr. Shaft was united in marriage to Elizabeth Pinckney, of Woodhull township. She was born in Genoa, Living- ston county, Michigan, February 1, 1840, being the fifth in a family of seven children: Char- lotte, born February 4, 1829, married Marvel Hawkins and both are deceased ; they had one child, Arola Lockwood, who is a resident of Fowlerville. Matilda, born July 29, 1831, mar- ried Horace Chalker, a blacksmith, now de- ceased, and has one child, Thomas. She still lives in Fowlerville, Livingston county. John
born March 14, 1833, is a farmer of Locke township, Ingham county; he married Re -. becca Fisher, who died in 1872, leaving three children-Robert, George and Elizabeth. Mary, born January 16, 1836, married Hart- well Lewis, a Livingston county farmer, and they have one son, Herbert. Elizabeth is the wife of our subject. Eveline, born in 1843, married John Green, a Williamston township- farmer, and both are now deceased. They had two children,-Herbert and Annie. Louisa. born July 12, 1846, married Sidney Green, proprietor of a hotel and a brother of John Green, residing in Durand; she died in 1897, having become the mother of three children- Arthur, Alice and Thomas.
Mr. and Mrs. John M. Shaft are the parents of eight children : Cass M., born December 9, 1861, is a farmer of Woodhull township; he is a Democrat and has served four years as post- master at Shaftsburg. He married Trettie Van De Walker, and is the father of three chil- dren-Roy, Benjamin and Catharine. Lillian, born January 13, 1863, is the wife of Orney Goodridge, a Shaftsburg farmer, and has two children-Zorah and Josephine. James, born July 31, 1866, married Ada Stears, and they live in Shaftsburg. Elizabeth, born January 8, 1868, is the wife of Frank Lockwood, a farmer of Williamston township and a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and they have four children-Raymond, Mabel, Sher- ley and Pauline. Ellen, born September 16, 1871, married Perry Wilsey, a musician, and they reside at Lansing, Michigan. John P., born September 30, 1873, married Jane War- ner. He is a resident of Shaftsburg, is a Dem- ocrat and has served six years as township. clerk. He is a notary public and a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Raymond, born February 16, 1878, was grad- uated in the Lansing Business College, and is a clerk in his father's store. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Roe, born June 1, 1881, died August 30, 1902.
Thomas Pinckney, Mrs. Shaft's father, lo-
JOHN M. SHAFT
MRS. JOHN M. SHAFT
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cated in Genoa township, Livingston county, on eighty acres of government land, which he cleared and improved, erecting a substantial house and barns. His death occurred Decem- ber 9, 1849. The maiden name of Mrs. Shaft's mother was Rebecca West. She had one brother, two half-brothers, and one half-sister, who, like herself, were born in New York state. Some of them removed to Livingston county, where they still reside. Mrs. Pinckney died January 22, 1859. When the family re- moved from Genoa to Locke township the father took up eighty acres of wild land, clearing and cultivating it and erecting upon it the homestead buildings. Across the way from this tract was afterward built the first frame school house in Locke township. For many years it bore the name of the "Pinckney school house," in honor of the pioneer who set- tled in the locality when the region for miles around was but a wilderness. When Mr. Pinckney first came to the country, wolves, bears and deer were plentiful, and he became quite a hunter. For some time he had in his possession four tame deer which he had captured when small and had domesticated. When he located in Locke township, William- ston was the nearest market place and milling point. As Mr. Pinckney located in Michigan long before the Republican party was in exis- tence, he was originally a Whig, afterward joining the ranks of its successor. He was an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and died a firm believer in its faith, November 16, 1890. ·
John P. Shaft, the father of our subject, was a native of Rensselaer county, New York, where he was born September 16, 1804. He was of German and French descent. His ma- ternal grandfather served as an officer under the great Napoleon, and the grandfather on the paternal side emigrated from Germany to America before the beginning of the Revolu- tionary war, in which he was engaged on the side of the patriots, serving until the close of the struggle, when he "turned his sword into
a pruning hook," in Rensselaer county, New York, and engaged in farming. This was the native county of Peter, father of John P. Shaft, and after the birth of the latter, a por- tion of the family removed to Saratoga coun- ty, in the same state. Seven children were born to Peter and Elizabeth Shaft and when one of these, John P., was still an infant the family residence was changed to Madison county, New York, where the homestead re- mained until 1838. John P. Shaft remained with his father until he reached his majority and had been thoroughly educated in the com- mon-school branches. Thus equipped, he fur- ther fitted himself for intelligent, practical and successful work, by mastering the shoemaker's trade, which he followed until he came to Michigan, in 1839. He had not only a good trade at his fingers' ends but also brought with him a fair stock of boots, shoes and leather, and, backed by hope, confidence, and general ability as well, he settled in the town of Perry. It must be remembered that shoemaking in those days was an important industry in every town, city and hamlet in the land, boots and shoes having to be made to order. This was before the days of much ready-made work. He had the foresight to buy two hundred and eighty acres of wild land, on sections 19, 20 and 29. In 1846 he removed to Woodhull town- ship and purchased a tract of one hundred and sixty acres, which he improved and cultivated, erecting thereon a residence and other farm buildings and setting out a fine orchard. To these purchases he added from time to time until he was the proprietor of two thousand three hundred and thirty acres of land. When he died he was the owner of one thousand and eighty acres, mostly in Woodhull township. When Mr. Shaft settled in Perry his nearest neighbors were three miles north and seven miles west, but he lived to see the country all about him thickly populated and highly culti- vated. He was a leader in the construction of the Grand Trunk Railroad, a staunch pro- moter and a liberal supporter of educational
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and religious enterprises, and such an indis- pensable friend to the best life of the commun- ity that the town itself was named after him, as already stated.
· John P. Shaft was married four times, first to Christiana Olsaver, in 1829. She was a fine type of the pioneer woman, a model wife and mother and most highly esteemed as a friend and neighbor. The result of this union, besides our subject, was the following named children: Orville, born in Madison county, New York, for many years was a western miner, and he died in California about 1900. Elizabeth, also born in Madison county, New York, became the wife of Johnson Treadway, a farmer of Perry township, by whom she had seven children, her death occurring in Morrice, December 22, 1904; her children were all born in Perry township. Julia is the wife of Mel- ville Grant, a horse breeder, of Morrice. Adna married George Graham, clerk in a Morrice store. John and Johnson were twins; the for- mer is dead and the latter is a Grand Rapids railroad man. Orville, a Perry township farm- er, died about twelve years ago. Alice, wife of Mr. Clark, a farmer of Perry township, had three children, and she died in 1882. Mary married Frank Ormsby, a farmer of Locke township.
John P. Shaft's second wife was Christina Sherry, and eight children were born to them ; and the third was Julia Parks, a native of New York state. They had no children.
Our subject was a child of his father's first marriage. His mother, Christiana (Olsaver) Shaft, was born in Madison county, New York, her parents being pioneer farmers of Washtenaw county, Michigan, where they had purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres. She was one of a family of eight children, her father, Martin Olsaver, and her mother, Hannah (Williams) Olsaver, both being natives of New York state. Lawrence, her elder brother, was the first child of the family; she was the second; Cornelius, the third ; Eliza, the fourth ;
Susan, the fifth; William, the sixth; Nancy, the seventh, and Henry, the eighth. The chil- dren all reside in either Washtenaw or Living- ston counties.
It will thus be seen that John M. Shaft comes from good stock, and like his father be- fore him, will leave a lasting impress on the community as one who has accomplished some- thing in life. Indeed, he has already done this, and may justly be proud of his achievements as a safe, reliable business man. But it may be claimed that Mr. Shaft has been lucky. Some eminent men, however, have persistently claimed that there is no such thing in the world as luck, that men are at all times the arbiters of their own fortunes, and that if an unkind fate overtakes them it is because of their im- prudence and carelessness. A critical observer has written: "If a man will put liis mind into his business and drive it with energy, bad luck will never overtake him." Mr. Shaft has pushed his business, has attended to it closely, has succeeded admirably, and, although on the down-grade of life's journey, he is still active and in good health. Verily, such men should have a secret fountain from which to drink and renew their youth and vigor and thus perpetuate their stay in the world.
JOHN SHAY
Sixty-nine years ago but little could be said of the state of Michigan. The constitution of the state was not then adopted, and the greater part of the commonwealth was an uninhabited wilderness. Yet, in that early day, a man came to Lenawee with a son, who, at the age of twelve, working on a farm for six dollars the month, could provide for his own support and the support of his younger brother.
John Shay lived in Lenawee county until af- York, February 9, 1832. He is a son of Ansel Shay, a shoemaker by trade, who was born in the state of New York, and who died about fifty years ago. The mother died when our
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subject was but a child and of her he has no recollection. There were five children in the family. The oldest, Martha, is deceased ; the second, Millie Ann, lives in Ohio; the third is the subject of this sketch; the fourth, Henry, died when a small boy ; the fifth, Frank, is the youngest child and is now sixty-eight years of age, having been about six years old when the father died, leaving him dependent upon his brother John, then but twelve years of age.
John Shay lived in Lenawee county until af- ter his marriage to Maria Dutcher, his first wife, when he came to Rush township about the year 1855. At that time this section was all wild, being covered with heavy tim- ber. He bought eighty acres of this wild land and started in to make the home which he now occupies, in section 16.
John and Maria (Dutcher) Shay became the parents of three children. The first, Martha Jane, was born in Lenawee county, and she died unmarried; Frank is now forty-four years of age; Mary is the wife of Anson Shuster and they reside in Ontonagon county, Michigan. In 1892 our subject was married to the widow of Andrew Hurst. She has five sons and two daughters by the first marriage. The sons are all holding responsible railroad positions, and one of the daughters is teaching in Ypsil- anti and the other in Danville, Illinois.
Mr. Shay erected a board shanty upon the land which he purchased when he came to Rush township. He afterward enlarged this and at present it constitutes a part of the house now standing upon the land. In his early life he had but few school advantages, and acquired but a limited education; but while his schooling was neglected he was not neg- lecting the responsibility which the unfor- tunate death of his father had placed upon him, and was caring for his brother, who was too young to care for himself.
Politically, he has always been a Democrat in national affairs, but is independent and uses his judgment of men and measures in local matters. He has served as a school officer
and as highway commissioner. He now owns eighty acres of well-improved farming land, on section 16. The land is well fertilized and has good, substantial buildings. He still at- tends to the management of his farm, which is devoted to general farming. He has lived long in Rush township and has seen the forest. fall before the stroke of the pioneer's ax. He has earned and has the respect of all who know him, and deserves the comforts of life which he now enjoys.
ALEXANDER SHIPPEY
.
This gentleman comes of good stock, some of his ancestors having figured in the war of 1812. Alexander Shippey was born in Oxford township, Oakland county, Michigan, March 17, 1847. His father, John Shippey, was a native of Seneca county, New York, where he first saw the light of day in 1809, and his mother, Mary (Graham) Shippey, was born in Ontario, Canada, in 1813, and died August 26, 1897. Mr. and Mrs. John Shippey were married at Rochester, Michigan, October 30, 1830. Previously to this date John Shippey came to Michigan, and took up forty acres of government land in Oxford township, Oakland county. On this he built a log house and barn, eventually clearing the land and subsequently adding one hundred acres, which also he cleared. He afterward erected a frame house and barns. He lived on the place at the time of his death. Detroit was his market for trad- ing in the early days, and he went from Pontiac to Big Rapids to make a millstone at a time when there was nothing but an Indian trail be- tween the two points.
Alexander Graham, maternal grandfather of our subject, was in the war of 1812, and his daughter, mother of Mr. Shippey, was kept' na in the fort at Detroit, the only companions be- ing "papooses." She was in the fort when it was attacked by the English and Indians and for a time it was thought that the stronghold would be captured and the inmates taken pris-
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oners. At the close of the war Mr. Graham re- moved with his family to Rochester, Michigan, near which place he settled on a large tract of government land, where he and Mr. Shippey's mother drove the ox team which turned the first furrow ever plowed in Oakland county- a distinguished honor which falls to the lot of few women. John Graham, brother to Mr. Shippey's mother, was the first male child born in Oakland county.
Alexander Shippey was the seventh of nine children. Maria, now living in Lapeer county, first married Frank Wilder and had four chil- dren. After his death she married Hiram Travis; they have no children. Clarica, who lives at Hadley, Lapeer county, married Ernest Mann, and had three daughters. John, who lives near Bad Axe, Michigan, married Emma Hallenbeck and they have one child. Ann is the wife of Martin Jersey, of Romeo, Michi- gan, and has three children. Jane, who is living at Metamora, Lapeer county, married Hiram Lee, and had three children. Olive, who is deceased, lived at Metamora, Lapeer county, having been the wife of Enos Pitcher, and having had three children. Alexander is the subject of this sketch. Benjamin died in Oakland county, at the age of ten years. Ada, now living in Lapeer county, married Mr. Mar- ston, and had two children. Her second hus- band is Mr. Barber, by whom she has had four children.
Mr. Shippey started the battle of life for himself at the age of sixteen years, beginning to work on a farm by the month. He contin- ued this for six years. At the end of that time he rented a big farm in Lapeer county, for one year, but owing to ill health he found it neces- sary to sell out in 1871, and he subsequently spent six weeks prospecting in Kansas. Prior to going to that state, however, he visited Haz- elton township, at which time he made the dec- laration he would not take it as a gift. In the fall of 1871, however, he experienced a "change of heart" and after returning from Kansas bought eighty acres of wild land, on
section 2, Hazelton township, for which he paid four hundred dollars. During the first year he lived in a board shanty twelve by six- teen feet in dimensions. This he afterward tore down, and started to build a frame house sixteen by twenty-four feet in dimensions, but before it was completed it was blown down. Finally, however, the damage was repaired and the structure completed. He continued to oc- cupy it till eighteen years ago, when he built a larger and finer residence with suitable and more commodious barns. All the land has been entirely changed, by clearing off the tim- ber, thus making it a beautiful and attractive spot. Three years ago Mr. Shippey retired from the old homestead, on account of poor health, and located in New Lothrop, this coun- ty, where he purchased a house and four lots and where he now lives in ease and comfort.
In 1869 Mr. Shippey was married to Aman- da Campbell, who died in 1878, leaving three children : Arthur, who was born September 7, 1872, lives on his father's farm; he married Myrta Smith and they have two children, Mil- dred and Vivian. The second was Ernest, born March 6, 1875, and the third was an infant which died at the age of three weeks, the same time as did its mother.
In 1880 Mr. Shippey took a second wife, Ella Enders, who was born March 28, 1856. To them one child, Iva, was born, June 10, 1885. She married Oscar Bower and has two children : Roy, born May 5, 1903, and Ken- neth, born January 14, 1905.
The father of Mrs. Shippey was Samuel Enders. He settled in Oakland county, where he bought eighty acres of partly improved land. At the time of his death, in 1898, he lived in Ortonville, Michigan. His wife is still living at that place. Mrs. Shippey was the fourth of eight children: Charlotte, who lives at Ortonville, Michigan, married Damon Irish, and they have no children. Almeda, who resides at Port Jarvis, New York, is the wife of Richard Whitmore and they have five children. Warren, who lives in Colorado, is
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married and has six children. Ella is the wife of Mr. Shippey, subject of this review: Charles, who resides at Ortonville, Michigan, is married but has no children. Norman, who is living in Bay county, married Etta Wil- kins and they have one child. Jennie, who lives at Vassar, Michigan, married George Mc- Ginnis, and they have two sons. Lucius died in Montana, having been married. The father of Mrs. Shippey was a native of Pennsylvania, while her mother, Nancy (Rhodes) Enders, was born in New York state. Endersville, Pennsylvania, was named in honor of Mrs. Shippey's family.
Alexander Shippey is a Democrat and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
SAMUEL SHUSTER
For many years one of the best-known and most honored pioneers of Rush township was Samuel Shuster. On account of temporary ill- ness he was prevented for the first time within a half century from attending and voting at the spring election in the township in 1905.
He was born in Tuscarawas county, Ohio, on the 11th of July, 1821. He was a son of John Shuster, who was born in Washington county, Pennsylvania, and who died in the state of Ohio, at the age of eighty-one years. Our subject's mother, Elizabeth (Wingate) Shuster, was born in Delaware, near Phila- delphia. She was bound out, when a child, to a family in Ohio, where she was reared.
At the age of twenty-one years our sub- ject's father located at New Baltimore, Ohio, where he lived several years. He then removed with his family to Hardin county, Ohio, where both he and his wife died. Ohio at that time was a sparsely settled state. The subject of this sketch remembered when there was but one lumber wagon in the county in which they lived. He used to go to mill, a distance of six- teen miles on horseback, and return with the grist and other food supplies. As the father
was one of the pioneers of Ohio, so was the son a pioneer of Michigan. Mr. Shuster's grandfather was a very wealthy man. He gave each of his children one hundred and sixty acres of land, a cow, and a saddle and bridle. To the eleventh child, a daughter, he gave five hundred dollars in money and a house and lot in Philadelphia.
The subject of this memoir came to Michi- gan in 1854, and located his land, situated in Rush township, Shiawassee county, with a pocket compass and a piece of birch bark two rods long. His one hundred and sixty acres of wild land cost him twelve and one-half cents per acre. The trip from Qhio was made with two yoke of oxen, a cow and a heifer. His family consisted of himself, his wife and their infant child.
Mr. Shuster was married in Ohio, at the age of twenty-nine years, to Elizabeth Main. She was born in Ohio, and lived only eight years after their marriage. To them were born three children. The oldest, Sanford, lives in Rush township; the second, Anson E., lives in On- tonagon county, and the third, John, lives in Rush township.
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