Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches, Part 65

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 65

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united in marriage to Miss Ella, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth (Smith) Magaw. Mrs. Thompson was born in Caledonia, September 1, 1868. Thomas Magaw and wife settled in Caledonia township in 1865 and he engaged in farming. To them twelve children were born, of whom five are now living.

To our subject and wife three children have been born: R. Stanley, March 30, 1891; Don- ald M., February 21, 1898, and Madeline, Feb- ruary 16, 1901.

Following the example set by his father, our subject casts his vote for the men and measures of the Republican party. He has filled the offices of township treasurer, justice of the peace and school director. Fraternally he is associated with the Gleaners and Ma- sons.

Mr. Thompson is one of the well-to-do, prosperous and highly respected young farm- ers of Caledonia township.

GEORGE THOMPSON

This gentleman is a native of Pennsylvania, where he was born March 17, 1853, but in 1854 he came with his parents to Michigan. His father was born in Indiana in 1820, and died in Oakland county, Michigan, in 1856. The latter located in the Saginaw valley in 1854, and being a carpenter and millwright, had the honor of building the first mill in the valley. Shortly afterward he bought a forty- acre farm in Groveland township, Oakland county. It was mostly in a state of nature, but contained a house. He cleared part of the land and lived there until his death. This was at a time when George, the subject of this sketch, was only three years old. At the age of sixteen years he started to struggle with destiny for himself, and worked for wages as low as twenty-five cents a day, boarding himself,-a condition which is in strange con- trast with conditions to-day, when common laborers are demanding as much per hour, and

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still are not satisfied ! He continued to work by the month until 1877, when he removed to Hazelton township and bought forty acres of virgin land on section 3, having resolved to own a home and be his own master; for

Happy the man, whose wish and care A few paternal acres bound ; Content to breathe his native air In his own ground.

narrow path cut through the woods to the land he had purchased, and the hamlet of New Lathrop contained but three houses. He built a small frame house, now a part of the pleas -. ant cottage he has since erected. Besides im- proving all the land, he has built a good frame barn, and, in short, he has literally caused the wilderness about him to "bloom and blossom like the rose." In the early days he used to get his mail from Ratville, distant three and one-half miles, and generally his wife went after it, making a walk of seven miles. The mail was then brought to Ratville three times a week only.

Mr. Thompson was married August 21, 1877, to Helen Snyder, who was born July 27, 1857. She is a daughter of Joel Snyder, who was born at Rochester, Michigan, in 1834, and who died May 21, 1894. Her mother, Jane Ann (Buzzard) Snyder, was born in Cattar- augus county, New York, in 1836, and died in Hazelton township, in 1893. Mrs. Thompson was the second of a family of five children : Charles, born January 1, 1856, lives in Hazel- ton township; he married Olive Perrigo and they have one son,-Elmer. Thomas, born October 11, 1859, lives in Hazelton township; he married Ella Wilson and they have no children. Hattie, born November 3, 1861, lives in Hazelton township; she married Wal- lace Vanzant and they have no children. Floyd, born October 30, 1876, is single and lives in Tacoma, Washington.

Mrs. Thompson's grandfather was Thomas Snyder. Her father was a farmer. At first

he lived on his farm near Groveland, Michi- gan. In 1875 he came to Hazelton township and bought eighty acres of wild land, on sec- tion 3, where his son Thomas now lives. He built a small frame house and improved all the land. George Thompson's mother was Kathrina (Morrison) Thompson, a native of Pennsylvania, where she was born in 1822, and she died at Holly, Michigan, February 18, 1904. Mr. Thompson was the fourth of the

At the time stated, 1877, there was only a - family of four children: David, born in 1847, is an engineer in silk works at Belding, Mich- igan; he married for his first wife Elizabeth Sanbrooks, now deceased, and they had three children,-William L., Minnie and Lena. By his second marriage he had one child,-Bert. Charles, born in 1849, is a carpenter at Sag- inaw ; he married Nellie Tagget and they had four sons,-James, Charles, Abram and Lee. Mary, born in 1851, lives at Holly, Michigan ; she married Frederick Lahring and has one son, -- Herbert.

Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have no children. His father was a Republican, while he himself is now a Democrat, although originally a Re- publican. His wife's father also is a Demo- crat. Mrs. Thompson's parents are members of the Methodist Protestant church. Mr. Thompson is an Odd Fellow and his wife 1s a member of the Ladies of the Maccabees and also of the Daughters of Rebekah.

DAVID THORP

David Thorp was born in Avon township, Oakland county, Michigan, April 7, 1833, and was called to the life eternal on November 25, 1899. Verily

The air is full of farewells to the dying, And mourning for the dead.

The deceased was a son of Peter and Samantha (Bellows) Thorp, early pioneers of Oakland county. He was educated in the dis- trict schools of Oakland county and lived on

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the farm with his parents until he reached the age of twenty-two years. This was in 1857, 'when he went to California, where he remained about nine years, returning in 1866 to Oak- land county. The following year he removed to Middlebury township, Shiawassee county, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 23. This was mostly cleared and contained a few old buildings. He at once set to work clearing the remainder of the land, and constructed a large house, barns and other buildings, making the farm one of the best and most productive in the entire township. Indeed, Middlebury has never pos- sessed within its borders a more thorough far- mer than was David Thorp.

On March 4, 1869, Mr. Thorp was mar- ried to Clara Woodworth, who was born May 29, 1852. She was a daughter of William Woodworth, who died May 25, 1905, aged ninety-six years, a sketch of whom is given elsewhere in this volume, in connection with that of his son, H. W. Woodworth. David Thorp was a quiet, unassuming gentleman and never aspired to place or office. In politics he was a Republican. For fourteen years he was an agent of a fire-insurance company. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Thorp, as follows: Eva is the wife of T. E. Stebbins, living on a farm in Owosso township, and they have two children,-Frank and Vera. Lena Belle died at the age of three years. Edna May died when fourteen years old. Frank H., who owns the old homestead, married Edna Cross and they have one child-Naoma, born December 10, 1902.

On April 7, 1903, Mrs. Thorp was united in marriage to Levi Markham, who was born in Monroe county, New York, May 26, 1842. He was a son of Willard and Eliza (Bronson) Markham, both natives of the Empire state. His mother died when he was but seven years old. He was one of the ten children born to his parents, all having been born in New York state, where his father was a farmer, there passing his entire life. Levi Markham en-

listed in Company A, the One Hundred and Eighth New York Infantry, July 19, 1862. At the battle of Antietam he received a gun- shot wound in the back and right shoulder, for which disability he was discharged and sent home. In 1863 he came to Michigan, first stopping at Marshall, where he worked part of one year. He then went to Wayne county and for a few years afterward was engaged in blacksmithing, farming and undertaking at different times,-a wide and varied range of occupations. In 1870 he came to Shiawassee county and bought forty acres of improved land, on which he lived until his death. In April, 1867, he was married to Charlotte- Bar- rows, a native of Michigan, where she was born March 15, 1843; she died March 14, 1901. They never had any children. They were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was formerly a Republican but in late years was affiliated with the Prohibitionists. For the last few years of his life Mr. Markham was a great sufferer from the effects of a stroke of paralysis. Mr. Markham passed out of this life May 30, 1905.

David Thorp, the chief subject of this .

sketch, was an honest, upright man. He had been a Mason from the age of twenty-five years and in closing the final chapter of a life well spent he left an honored name.

JOHN C. TOWLE

John C. Towle is a native of New Bruns- wick, Canada, where he was born March 28, 1828. His father, however, Sergeant Towle, was born in Belgrade, Maine, in 1769, and died in New Brunswick, in 1853. He was a shingle-maker and farmer. He went from Vermont to Canada when a young man and bought one hundred acres of land. He lived there until his death. His wife, Desire Mc- Curdy Towle, was a widow when he married her and her maiden name was Trim. At the age of thirteen years John C. Towle started in

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life for himself, attending a carding machine and working at carpentering. He was next employed in a saw mill for six years. In 1854 he came to Flushing, Michigan, and afterward was engaged in the lumber woods and on the river for five years. At this time he was seized with a desire to have a home and farm. He first bought sixty-five acres in Montrose township, Genesee county, the tract being half reclaimed. He did not keep this land, however. He sold it and shortly afterward bought eighty acres of wild land on section 26, Hazelton township, resolving to have a home, where

At night returning, every labor sped, He could sit down the monarch of a shed ; And smile by his cheerful fire and round sur- vey

His children's looks that brighten at the blaze ; While his lov'd partner, boastful of her hoard, Could display her cleanly platter on the board.

Here he built a board shanty and cleared seventy acres. In 1844 he traded this for the eighty acres where he now lives, the west one- half of the northeast quarter of section 36. Sixty acres were improved when he bought the property. He has since cleared ten acres more and in 1890 he added forty acres, twenty of which were improved. Since then he has cleared an additional ten acres. He built a frame house and barn on his first purchase in Hazelton township and recently completed a fine new house on his present farm, besides a barn thirty-six by seventy-six feet, a carriage house and a woodshed.

October 24, 1858, Mr. Towle married Sara Cockburn, who was born April 13, 1830, being a daughter of James Cockburn, who was born July 10, 1804, in New Brunswick, while her mother was Margaret Atchenson, who was born April 13, 1809. Her father was a farm- er and owned three hundred acres in New Brunswick. He died in 1891, and his wife in 1874.

John C. Towle was the fourth in a family of four children: Horatio, who died in New

Brunswick, married Martha Leaver and had one daughter, Agnes. William, who died in New Brunswick, married Mary Ann Simpson and had one child,-Howard. Robert married Ann Whittier and they had six children,- Alma, William, Robert, Jennie, John and Mag - gie.

Mrs. Towle was first in a family of twelve children: William, born November 10, 1831, was in Texas when the civil war broke out and has never been heard from since. John, born December 11, 1833, was with his brother in Texas at the breaking out of the war, and has not been heard from since. Robert, born December 28, 1835, lived in California; he married Ruth McClasky and had a daughter, Minnie, who married Stephen Ross. Mary Ann died in Albert county, New Brunswick; she married John Day and had one daughter, Mary, now dead. Margaret died in New Brunswick ; she married Edwin Perkins and had two chil- dren,-Edwin and Emma. Grizilda died in Rhode Island; she married James Reed and had one child,-Varian. Rachel died in New Brunswick, single. Wilson, who lives in New Brunswick, married Belle Fish; they have no children. Rebecca, who died in New Bruns- wick, married William McCrumb and had one child,-Fred. Hiram, who lives in New Brunswick, married Lizzie Blakeley and had a son. Alice died in New Brunswick, single.

Mr. and Mrs. Towle had six children, five of whom are living: Franklin, born July 10, 1852, married Dora Smith and lives in Minne- apolis, Minnesota, being a candy manufac- turer ; he has two children,-Margaret, born in December, 1890, and Howard, born July 2, 1892. Ruby, born April 12, 1862, died April 28, 1884 ; she married William Hovey and had one daughter, Grace, who was born May 17, 1883, and who married Clyde Kent, of Durand. Izetta, born May 17, 1863, married Joseph Hughes and they had five children,- Frances, born March 14, 1883, married Spencer Austin and they had two children, Olive, born June 25, 1901, and Joseph, born May, 1903;

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John and Lora, twins, were born June '27, 1894, and Lawrence was born May 30, 1896. James, born September 11, 1866, lives at Globe, Arizona ; he married Maggie McKevitt and had four children,-Owen, five years old ; James, four years old; Sarah, born in June, 1903, and Thomas, born September 6, 1904. Mary, born April 13, 1868, married Alphonso Reed and had two sons,-Eric, born May 14, 1894, and Lynn, born July 6, 1896 ; Mary lives in Hazelton township. John, born May õ, 1870, is single and lives at home.

Mr. Towle is a Republican. He has been a director and treasurer in his school district for many years. He now holds the latter office. He was a Granger until it "played out," as he puts it. It is a remarkable fact that there is but one other person living in his neighbor- hood who was there when he located on his present farm, and it may also be said that Hazelton township has no citizen more deservedly popular than John C. Towle.

GEORGE TURNER

The father of this gentleman was C. B. Turner, a native of the Nutmeg state. He was a man of great push and energy, as the re- sult of his life illustrates. In 1836 he antici- pated the advice of Horace Greeley, and went west to grow up with the country, realizing, doubtless, with Bishop Berkeley, that "West- ward the course of empire takes its way." At that time, certainly, "westward" was the tendency of gravitation so far as population is concerned, and "gravitation" is still getting in its work! In the year stated, therefore, Mr. Turner embarked on an exploring and land-looking tour throughout the north- west. He bought one thousand acres of gov- ernment land in the Sangamon valley, Illinois. He did not locate upon it, however, but subse- quently traded the tract for land in New York state. This he sold in 1846 and, traveling overland to central Wisconsin, bought two hundred and forty acres of timbered land in

that section of the Badger state. In 1847 he broke and sowed to wheat one hundred and twenty acres. Afterward he added four hun- dred acres to his original purchase, built a saw mill, and with the assistance of our sub- ject and his other son, Nelson, conducted the business for a period of eighteen years. In 1871 he sold his property there and removed to Fayette' county, Iowa, where he purchased between three hundred and four hundred acres. Most of this land he placed under culti- vation, passing the remainder of his days there.

George Turner was born in Avon township, Livingston county, New York. His father, as we have stated, was born in Connecticut and his mother in New York, the latter dying in her native state in 1839. Our subject is the senior of two children. The other brother, Nelson, was born March 12, 1831. He is a Minnesota farmer ; he married Mary Rumsey, and is the father of five children. With this brother and his father he was interested in a saw mill in Wisconsin for eleven years. At the same time he owned eighty acres of land · near the saw mill. He looked after the prop- erty but did not personally cultivate.

In 1864 Mr. Turner sold his interests in Wisconsin and with his brother bought one hundred and twenty acres of improved land in Shiawassee township, where he located his residence. There he remained five years, when he disposed of his share and removed to his present homestead, on section 2, Venice township, in which locality he had previously bought eighty acres of wild land. As showing the primitive condition of the country when he located there, it may be stated that he was obliged to cut a road through the forest for a mile and a half in order to get goods and provisions to his claim. All of the land has since been improved and it is now one of the choicest homesteads of that section of coun- try.

On December 22, 1853, Mr. Turner mar- ried Lucretia S. Vining, who was born in

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July, 1834. Mrs. Turner's parents were Joseph and Aurelia (Williams) Vining, her father being a native of the Empire state. He be- came a resident of Shiawassee township in 1862, purchasing a farm of forty acres im- proved land, and residing thereon until his death, in October, 1870. The mother died be- fore Mr. Vining became a resident of Michi- gan.

Mrs. Turner was the eldest of a family of four children. Her brother, Edwin, enlisted in the Fourteenth Michigan Infantry and died in the military service. Of her two sisters, Amanda E. is living, and' Amelia is dead. Mrs. Turner passed away October 14, 1904.

Norman W., the elder son of our subject, was born in 1855, his wife's family name being Baker. His three children are Edith, Gale and Myrtle, the family homestead being an eighty-acre tract adjoining the father's farm on the south. Arthur E., the second son, was born in 1858 and married a Miss Bowles. They also have three children,-Earl, Francis and Marion. The home farm is forty acres in area and adjoins Norman's homestead on the south.

Since the death of his wife, Mr. Turner has lived on the old homestead alone, preferring this life of independence. He is a substantial, straightforward and honored member of the community, and a leading citizen of the coun- ty. As a good citizen he has cheerfully borne not a few public responsibilities, his patriot- ism being shown on more than one occasion. He enlisted twice in the civil war, but failed upon each occasion to pass the physical exam- ination. In politics he is a Democrat, having been at one time a member of the Greenback party. Religiously he is identified with the Methodist Episcopal church.

JOSIAH TURNER

The following autobiography was prepared by Judge Turner and a copy given by him to each of his children :

To MY CHILDREN :

The following is a. summary of the most important events of my life, written by me in 1894, desiring that each of you should have a сору.

I was born in New Haven, Addison county, Vermont, on the 1st day of September, 1811. My grandfather on my father's side was Samuel Turner. He resided in Connecticut and, I think, was born in that state. He died at the age of ninety-three. I know nothing of my grandmother except that her maiden name was Howe. I regret to say that I am unable to trace my genealogy further back than my grandfather.

My father, whose name also was Josiah, was born in New London, Connecticut, in the year 1776 and died in New Haven, Vermont, in 1851, aged seventy-five years. He was a true Christian gentleman in every sense of the word. I regret exceedingly that I can tell you but little about my mother. Her name was Mary Dorothy, and I believe she was usually called Polly in the family. She and my father were married at Laingsburg, New York, but I am unable to tell what year, as there was no family record left by my parents. They moved to New Haven, Vermont, I think about the commencement of this century. My mother died in the month of May, before I was two years of age, aged thirty-six years, I believe. I never saw any of her relatives but remember hearing my father say that when they were married she had a widowed mother and two sisters. I am not sure where she was born but presume in Laingsburg. I have always understood that she was haif Dutch and a very excellent woman. Of course I was not old enough to remember her.

My parents had six children. Their names were: Samuel, Katie, Horace, Betsy, Eliza- beth, Nathaniel and Josiah. Katie and Samuel died before either of the others were born.

After my mother's death my father married Mrs. Mercy Perry, a widow with five children, but I remember of but two of her children liv-

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ing at my father's house; those were the two youngest girls. This second marriage of my father's took place when I was too young to remember it. By this marriage two children were born,-my brother, Oliver P., and my sister, Emily. My stepmother died in March, 1822, when I was ten years of age.

school. During that summer I worked on the farm with the men, at such work as I could do. I well remember that I worked at some- thing every day and was never idle.

The next spring, 1823, my father married Miss Susan Ellsworth, an excellent maiden lady, who survived him for a few years. No

JOSIAH TURNER

Young as I was at that time I prevailed upon my father to find me a place where I could work and at least earn part of my cloth- ing. He found me a place in an excellent fam- ily of farmers by the name of Gifford, about two and a half miles from our house, and within a few weeks after my stepmother's death I went there to live and stayed till late in the next fall, when I went home and to

children were born of this marriage. She was a good stepmother and brought up my brother Oliver and sister Emily in a very tender man- ner. She was a sister of your grandfather Ellsworth. In the spring of 1823 I again went to work for another farmer, and continued to do so each summer till 1827, my compensation being my board and what clothing my em- ployer saw fit to give me. During this time I

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went to school winters, usually boarding at home.

In 1827 I worked for Mr. Henry S. Walker (my father's nearest neighbor) in his tan yard, for eight dollars per month and board. From that time I worked for different persons, sum- mers, going to school winters till February, 1831, when I went to St. Albans, Vermont, for the purpose of reading law with my uncle, the late Hon. Bates Turner, who was then an. ex-judge of the supreme court of that state. I remained with my uncle until September, 1833, when I was admitted to the bar. Dur- ing the time that I was reading law as a stu- dent I taught a district school two winters. Within a few days after my admission to the bar I located and opened an office at West Berkshire, Vermont, and entered upon the practice of my profession. A few weeks be- fore this I had visited Berkshire to look over the ground and on that trip I first met your blessed and sainted mother, Eveline Ellsworth. We were married at your grandfather Ells- worth's residence, in Berkshire, on the first day of January, 1835, by Rev. Peter Chase, a Baptist minister of the gospel. I was then just twenty-three years and four months of age and your mother six years and six days younger.

About six weeks after our marriage I formed a copartnership with Joshua Willard Sheldon, attorney-at-law, residing in the town of Sheldon, about ten miles from Berkshire. We at once moved there and commenced our first housekeeping and it was here that Jerome was born on the 25th of January, 1836. After remaining at Sheldon a year, or perhaps a little more, not being satisfied with our prospects, we moved back to Berkshire. About that time there was a great rush for the west, and it did not take me long to make up my mind that if I was ever going to amount to anything I must get out of that staid old town and "go west." Accordingly, in February, 1838, hav- ing made provision for the board of your mother and Jerome I started out.

My brother Nathaniel was then a traveling agent in the province of Ontario, with head- quarters on Young street, in the city of Toron- to. I went by way of Montreal and from there to Toronto, and found my brother. After some days' delay my brother and I started, headed for Michigan. When we arrived at Brantford, Ontario, we called and stayed over night at a hotel kept by an old and intimate friend of my brother. The landlord invited us to remain a few days free of expense. How- ever that may have been, we did stay, and during the time my brother purchased the fur- niture of the hotel and the lease of the hotel it- self and took possession there. He desired me to remain with him as a sort of clerk or part manager of the concern and being anxious to earn a few dollars I did so, and in the summer of that year I sent for your mother and Jerome. I met them at Ogdensburg and took them to Brantford. Late in the fall or early in the winter of 1839 my brother disposed of his interest in the hotel and your mother and I moved temporarily into a furnished house till we could get ready to leave the place. We ex- pected to go by stage to Detroit. We were ready to go on the first day of March, 1840, and on that day a man came along with a span of horses and an empty lumber wagon and told me that he lived in the southern part of Michigan and that he was going directly home. As it was a time of the year when the roads were almost impassable I thought that was about as comfortable a way as we could travel, so I made arrangements with him for our passage to Detroit. My brother had gone on before us. It will be remembered that there were no railroads in those days.

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Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches, Part 65

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