USA > Michigan > Shiawassee County > Past and present of Shiawassee County, Michigan, historically; with biographical sketches > Part 70
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Our subject and his wife have two children, Ada, born October 5, 1867, is now the wife of William Dee. They reside on part of the family homestead and have two children, -- Helen, born April 7, 1904, and one child not married. Charles, who was born June 2, 1875, is unmarried and living at home.
Mr. Wilkinson has always been an earnest Republican, and his deep interest in educational matters is attested by his election to a position on the school board. He has won substantial position in his community, by ability, industry and faithfulness to every trust placed in his keeping. His father, a pioneer of the region, has also injected his personality into its his- tory, although at one time he was so poor that he and his two partners were obliged to share one pair of boots between them, the one getting the boots being the one to go to Pontiac to sell grain. He served as the first supervisor of his township, and has held public office of some kind during much of the time he has resided in Michigan, and has always ac- quitted himself with great honor.
FRED WILLIAMS
The subject of this sketch is a resident of Fairfield township, and was born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, Ferbuary 12, 1863. His father, Thomas Williams, came from Devonshire, England, where he was born February 3, 1821, and he died in Fairfield township, May 4, 1898. Our subject's mother, Elizabeth (Putt) Williams, hailed from the same place as her husband, and was born February 3, 1827. She also died in Fairfield township, December 30, 1903. Thomas Williams came to the United States in 1854 and settled in
Cuyahoga county, Ohio, where he afterward bought some land. In 1865 he removed to Fairfield township and purchased forty acres of wild land, which was sold in 1904 for sixty dollars per acre. He moved into a log house, added eighty acres more to the farm and with his sons helped to clear the one hundred and twenty acres. At the time of his death he still owned the farm in its entirety. Mr. Will- iams' grandfather was born and died in Dev- onshire, England.
Fred Williams started in life for himself at twenty-two years of age. He worked on a farm for two years, then bought forty acres of wild land, on section 14, where he now lives. He boarded at home and cleared the land. He built a fine frame house and barn in 1898. He rents land of his neighbor. On July 12, 1898, he married Florence Eames, of Fair- field township. She was born December 24, 1868. They had one child,-Mildred, who was born November 28, 1902, and who died December 30, 1902.
Mr. Williams is the third of seven chil- dren : 1. Sara, born December 30, 1859, lives at Bannister, Michigan, and is unmar- ried. 2. Richard, born June 8, 1861, lives at Ovid, Michigan; he married Bertha Squires and has one daughter, Ada. 4. Samuel, born April 16, 1865, fell from a barn and was killed, July 18, 1882. 5. Thomas, born February 3, 1867, lives at Owosso; he married Stella Cooley and has two children,-Reynold and Jaunita. 6. Julia, born August 4, 1868, lives at Bannister, Michigan; she married Miles Simpson and has four children,-Russell, Serial, Paul and Dorothy. 7. Edward, born May 22, 1870, lives in Fairfield township; he married Myra Leavitt and they have no chil- dren.
Mr. Williams' father, Thomas Williams, was the fifth of eight children: Mary Ann married William Locke, and died in Ohio. Samuel was born in England, where he died, as did also John. Sara died in Ohio. Rich- ard married and lives in England. Julia mar-
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ried Thomas Boon, and died in Ohio. An- drew lives in Fairfield township; he married first, Mary Ann Webber (dead), and, second, Nancy Gibson.
Mrs. Williams' father, William Eames, was born in Niagara county, New York, March 24, 1838, and died October 14, 1902, in Fair- field township. He first bought eighty acres in Hazelton township, partly improved, and he cleared the remainder and sold the place. He then removed to Corunna, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres wild land. This he improved, building a good house and barn, and he owned this farm at the time of his death. He was thrice married. First to Amanda Moore, now dead, by whom he had two children,-Ella, born December 25, 1861, lives in Kalkaska county ; she married Myron J. Davis, July 29, 1883, and they have one son, Lloyd. The second is Abbie, who was born November 5, 1863, and who lives in Caledonia township; she married George Brands, December 13, 1888, and they have one child, Ivan, born September 28, 1887. William Eames' second marriage was to the mother of Mrs. Williams, July 14, 1876 ; they had two children,-Mrs. Williams and Amanda. The latter was born July 30, 1871, and died when an infant. The third matrimonial venture of William Eames was on October 25, 1877, when he wedded Salucia Craig, who is also deceased; they had three children, as follows : William, born February 7, 1879, married Edna Haun and they live in Owosso, having one child, Thelma. Wing, born Febru- ary 24, 1880, lives in Kalkaska county ; he mar- ried Myrtle Fowler, now dead, leaving no chil- dren. Hattie, born July 5, 1884, died Novem- ber 27, 1884.
Mrs. Williams' father, William Eames, came to Michigan with his father and located in Grand Blanc township, Genesee county, on eighty acres of wild land, which he improved and sold. His father lived with him until death. William Eames was a money loaner. Mrs. Williams' grandmother, Betsy (Call)
Eames, lives at the home of Mr. Williams. Mrs. Williams' mother, Harriet (Craig) Eames, was born near Montreal, Canada, March 11, 1835.
Mr. Williams' father drove through from Ohio when he came to Michigan. At that time some of the roads were not cut through. Six years ago a wild deer was seen on the farm of Mr. Williams. Our subject is Republican in politics, a member of the Knights of the Mac- cabees, and is known as one of the best and most reliable citizens of Shiawassee county. He has made a success of life.
NATHANIEL WILLIAMS
Like hundreds of the early settlers of Mich- igan, the subject of this sketch started for himself in life at an early age, not only hewing his way into the forest, so to speak, but also lit- erally carving for himself a home and a farm from the vast wilderness. Few of even the second generation from these sturdy pioneers have any correct conception of what their an- cestors endured in reclaiming Michigan from a state of nature and making it what it is to- day, a veritable paradise of happy homes and broad acres of the choicest farms to be found from the rising to the setting of the sun. Na- than Williams, of section 21, Owosso town- ship, is a native of Ontario, Canada, where he was born July 21, 1831. He started to hus- tle for himself at the age of eighteen years, working by the month and chopping wood. He was an expert at the latter. He spent part of the time in New York state after the death of his father, which occurred in Canada, in 1849. In 1863 he found his way to Owosso township, where he worked for others and for two years managed a farm on shares. In 1868 he bought eighty acres of wild land, where he now lives. The timber was largely oak. He later sold forty acres and cleared the forty he now owns, also building the house in which he now lives. He has since added to
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it and built a substantial farm barn. Wild game was then very plentiful. He relates with amusement that he tried to "run down" the first wild turkeys he ever saw ; he learned bet- ter later.
In February, 1856, Mr. Williams married Catherine Lynch, daughter of Daniel Lynch. Her parents were born in Ireland, and were also married there. They removed to Canada, where they bought a farm, part of which Mr. Lynch cleared. Mr. and Mrs. Lynch died in Canada. Mrs. Williams was the fifth of six children,-John lives in Canada, James, Edward and Daniel are deceased, and one died in Ireland.
Mr. and Mrs. Williams have had five chil- dren, four of whom are living: 1. Nathaniel, born in 1858, lives with his parents and is a painter and paper-hanger. 2. Edward, born in 1860, lives in Colorado, being a miner by vocation. 3. John, born in 1865, lives at Spo- kane, Washington, being a farmer ; he is mar- ried and has two children,-Helen and a baby. 4. William, born in 1868, works for a bridge construction company in the east. 5. Mary Ann, who died at the age of thirty years, married Elmer Brooks, who also is deceased.
Mr. Williams' mother was Sara (Hallen- beck) Williams, who was born in Pennsylvania in 1806. She died at the age of thirty-four years. Her father was a farmer and owned two hundred and twenty-five acres of land in Canada at the time of his death. Mr. Will- iams was the first of four children: 2. John, born in 1833, lives in Owosso ; he married Re- becca Elmer, now deceased, and had five chil- dren,-Margaret, Wellington, Frank, Mary and Henry. 3. Robert, born in 1835, died in Owosso township; he married Elizabeth De Lang, and they had four children,-James, Mary, Sara and Rose. 4. Sara Ann, who died in Canada, married George Saxton, and had three children.
Mr. Williams is a Protestant Methodist, and practices the principles of his religious profes- sion. He does not belong to any political
party but votes for the best men. Altogether he is one of the best citizens in the township and has a large circle of warm friends. He has never sought for greatness but for many years has been a living example of the helpful influence of the Christian faith.
DAVID L. WINKLER
The subject of this sketch was born in Sum- mit county, Ohio, February 11, 1837. His father was James Winkler, a native of Wayne county, Ohio, where he was born in 1801, and where he died in 1847. He was a farmer and was in poor health for some time prior to his death. He owned one hundred acres at the time of his demise. His wife, Lucinda (Boydston) Winkler, was born in Ohio, in 1816. She died in Illinois, in October, 1897. David L. Winkler started for himself at the tender age of fourteen years,-the springtime of life, so to speak, when "youth holds no so- ciety with grief."
In 1858 he bought sixty acres of improved land in Summit county, Ohio, where he lived until 1880. He then sold and removed to Owosso township, Shiawassee county, Michi- gan, buying eighty acres, mostly improved, on section 28. He cleared eight acres and in 1883 bought eighty acres across the road, on section 27, making his farm one hundred and sixty acres. In 1893 he built a brick house.
Mr. Winkler was the third of six children : the first and second were Enoch and Jacob, each of whom died in infancy. Maria, who lives at Ohio Station, Illinois, married William Connor and has four children,-Lucy, Clar- ence, Bert and Orman. Lucy died in 1865. James died in 1865 in the army ; he enlisted in the One Hundred and Seventy-eighth Ohio Infantry, but died before the regiment left the state. Mr. Winkler's maternal grand- father was David Boydston, who came from North Carolina, and his paternal grandfather was David Winkler, who was a native of
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Germany. Mr. Winkler makes a journey to Wayne county, Ohio, every fall to attend the family reunion.
On March 22, 1860, he was married to Rosabella Hackett, who was born March 7, 1840, and who died August 23, 1861. She had one child, Rosalinda, who died at the age of seven years. On November 16, 1865, Mr. Winkler was married a second time, his wife being Mary Huston, who was born February 20, 1841, and who died July 29, 1901. By his second marriage Mr. Winkler had eight chil- dren, seven of whom are living: 1. Herbert was born September 9, 1866. At the breaking out of the Spanish-American war he enlisted in the First Colorado Infantry, and with the regiment went to Manila, Philippine Islands, where he participated in several engagements. He was discharged at Manila and is now over- seer of several hundred men who are unload- ing transports for the government. 2. Cora May, born August 11, 1867, died February 10, 1868. 3. Lucy Olive, born December 10, 1868, lives at Owosso, being the wife of Al- bert Daley. 4. George F., born May 26, 1870, lives in Nevada and is engaged in gold mining. 5. Ella Maria, born July 18, 1872, was married first to William Weidman, who is de- ceased; they had two children,-Hazel and William. Mrs. Weidman later married George Rush; they live in Owosso township. 6. James Arthur, born December 11, 1874, lives with Mr. Winkler. He married Mary Bench- ley and they have had three children,-Flor- ence, born October 5, 1897 ; Helen, born June 30, 1900; and Louis, who was born June 21, 1904, and who died at the age of five months. 7. David Olin, born April 11, 1877, lives on the farm of Mr. Winkler; he married Dora Davis and they have two children,-Carl, born October 15, 1903, and Gladys, born January 2, 1905. 8. Mary E., born March 8, 1880, is a stenographer in Arizona.
Mr. Winkler is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and the Grand Army of the Republic. He is a Prohibitionist politically
and he votes as he prays,-for the overthrow of the saloon. He was highway commissioner of Owosso township for one term and has served as school director. He was educated in a log school-house in Ohio. On July 8, 1862, he enlisted in Company D, Twenty-ninth Ohio Infantry, and participated in several of the hardest fought battles of the war, among them being Antietam, Chancellorsville, Lookout Mountain, Gettysburg and Burtonville. He was sent to New York city during the war and was not in Sherman's march to the sea, but was with the army from Savannah to Washington, D. C., where he participated in the final grand review of that noble command. He was discharged at Washington, D. C., and mustered out at Columbus, Ohio, June 25, 1865. He was for some months in the hos- pital at Nashville, Tennessee, with a broken leg. He is an appreciative Grand Army man and is a representative citizen, giving loyal support to every measure calculated to elevate his fellow men. His home is one of the many attractive farm residences of Middlebury township.
RUSSELL P. WIXOM, M. D.
The subject of this sketch, now a well- known and popular physician and surgeon of Bancroft, was for many years connected with the circus established by his father and known as "Wixom's Great Show." The elder Wixom is a practicing lawyer and a prominent man of affairs. Dr. Wixom is a native of Argentine, Genesee county, Michigan, where he was born January 7. 1869. He is a son of Martin Van Buren and Celia (Bradley) Wixom, his father having been born January 14, 1843, and his mother July 29, 1845. J. Wixom, grandfather of the Doctor, earned much prominence in several walks of life. He was a native of Scotland, and graduated from a medical college in Glasgow prior to coming to Michigan in 1837. He first located in Farm- ington, Oakland county, establishing himself
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not only in a professional sense, but also be- coming such a leader in the public affairs of the community that he subsequently repre- sented his district in the legislature of the state. Nothing could ever shake his faith in the principles of the Democracy, and he be- came so prominent in the councils of the party that he was put forward as a gubernatorial candidate by that organization in 1854. He was defeated by Kinsley S. Bingham, and was also an unsuccessful candidate for congress. Subsequently he removed to Fentonville, where he joined the Union army as surgeon of the Sixteenth Michigan Infantry, and on account of his fine record as an army surgeon he came within one vote of being made medi- cal director of the Army of the Potomac. At the close of his honorable service in the civil war he returned to Fentonville, and lived there, engaged in the successful practice of his profession, until his death, at the venerable age of eighty-one years. He was also a pioneer and a leader in Masonic circles, being one of the first in Michigan to reach the Scottish Rite degrees. Although he was a man of the strict- ·est integrity and of high character, and uni- formly honored for his goodness and admired for his unusual ability, he was never affiliated with any church. His wife, an Irish lady, was about his age, her maiden name being Riley. She preceded her husband into the eternal life by several years, dying at the age of seventy- eight years.
Martin Van Buren Wixom, father of the subject of this review, was the youngest of seven children. Wallace, the eldest, migrated to California in 1847 and pre-empted one hun- dred and forty acres of land, the tract being now in the very heart of San Francisco. He is dead, but his family, who reside in the city of the "Golden Gate," are very wealthy as a result of that fortunate investment. Sarah, the second child, is now Mrs. Dr. Curtis, of Saginaw, Michigan. Percival, the third, was accidentally killed in a quartz crusher in Cali- fornia. Mary, the fourth, now seventy-eight
years of age, is living with her brother, father of Dr. Wixom. Helen was the wife of James Topping, an attorney of Owosso, both she and her husband being deceased. The sixth of the children is a resident of California, and the seventh, as stated, was Martin Van Buren Wixom, father of our subject. The last named received his higher education in the State Normal School at Ypsilanti, Michigan, graduating in the class of 1863. But his tem- perament was too active to rest under the restraints of a teacher's life and he soon drifted into business pursuits. For seven years he was in the employ of the Globe tobacco works of Detroit and for two years was treasurer of Van Amburg's circus. He then founded his own establishment, "Mat Wixom's Great Show," but in 1872, leaving it in charge of his sons, commenced to read law in the office of A. N. Wood, of Fenton- ville. He also pursued his legal studies under Judge Long, and in 1877-8 attended a course at a regular law school. In May, 1878, he was admitted to the bar by Judge Turner, and at once opened an office in Bancroft, where he is still engaged in the practice of his pro- fession. In 1878 he was elected circuit-court commissioner and served in that capacity for two terms. He was an unsuccessful candi- date for prosecuting attorney in 1892 and for probate judge in 1900.
Martin Van Buren Wixom was married on September 23, 1863, to Celia Bradley, a native of Buffalo, New York, where she was born July 24, 1844. She is a daughter of Franklin and Emily (Pierce) Bradley, her parents for many years keeping a hotel in Genesee county. She is one of five children.
The following six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Wixom: Frank, a resident of Bancroft; Russell, our subject; two children who died in infancy; Ernest, who was born March 27, 1872, and who, with his brother, Martin Van Buren. Jr., is engaged in the show business.
Dr. Russell P. Wixom received the founda-
1
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tion of a thorough education in the village schools of Bancroft, and completed his high school course in 1386. The latter was sup- plemented by a year's course in the Fenton Normal School, and on March 25, 1896, he was graduated in the Michigan College of Medical Surgery. This literary and profes- sional training was diversified by a thorough business experience in connection with his father's circus, so that when he opened his office, on the day after his graduation, it was a foregone conclusion that he would succeed financially as well as professionally. He is a Republican in politics, is a member of the Congregational church, and is identified with the Maccabees, Knights of Pythias and Mod- ern Woodmen of America.
On February 12, 1895, Dr. Wixom was united in marriage to Louise E. (Mills) Mc- Garvey, a native of London, England, where she was born March 28, 1870. Her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Mills, are also natives of the world's metropolis, but are now residents of Canada. Dr. and Mrs. Wixom have one child, Helen. It will thus be seen that Dr. Wixom has not been a drone in the hive of life. He has worked and accomplished re- sults. It is a law of nature that every man can excel in his vocation, and a steadfast prin- ciple in business that every man can succeed in his calling. Voltaire once said, "Nothing is more estimable than a physician, who, hav- ing studied nature from his youth, knows the properties of the human body, the diseases which assail it, the remedies which will ben- efit it, exercises his art with caution and pays equal attention to the rich and the poor."
ELIAKIM WOOD
Eliakim Wood is a native of Ontario, Can- ada, having been born January 5, 1846, in Lon- don township, near London. He was a son of Daniel Wood, who was born in 1802, at the same place, and who died October 29, 1847.
The latter's wife, mother of Eliakim, was a Vermonter by birth, having been born in 1806. She passed to the great beyond in February, 1899, at the home of her son, Eliakim. Daniel Wood was a cooper and farmer. He lived in London township nearly all his life. He owned a farm of one hundred acres, which was given him by the government for valuable services in the army. He alternated his time 'twixt his farm and cooper shop, as fancy seized him.
Eliakim Wood pushed his own bark on the sea of life at the age of twenty-four years, and bravely did he seize the oars. Prior to this time he had worked on the farm left by his father. In 1870 he removed from Canada to Hazelton township, making the trip by team, and he purchased eighty acres of wild land, paying nine hundred and fifty dollars for the same. There was a small log house on the premises and this, for the time being, afforded shelter for himself and wife. At that time the forests abounded in an abundance of game, such as deer, turkeys, etc. He there narrowly escaped a struggle with a bear while hunting for his cows after dark. Eight months after locating on his new' possessions he built a log house, which is now a part of his present frame struc- ture, being so hidden in the transformation that its identity is unknown to those not famil- iar with the arrangement. In 1893 he pur- chased twenty acres from William Burgess, across the road from his present place. Later he sold it and afterward rebought it. He now owns one hundred acres of improved land, and a splendid farm it is. It is a somewhat sin- gular fact that Mr. Wood is the thirteenth child in a family of thirteen. Ordinarily thir- teen is considered an unlucky number, but why no one can tell. This belief, however, has not proved true so far as Mr. Wood is concerned. Indeed, he naturally likes the number "thir- teen," as he is forcibly reminded of it once every month in the year at least. The re- spective members of this large household are thus enumerated: 1. Benjamin, born Febru-
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ary 25, 1825, died in January, 1902 ; he married Catherine Burgess; they had eight children, and they always lived at London. 2. Mary, born March 15, 1827, died in 1899, having lived at London ; she married Nelson Kimball and had seven children. 3. John, born Oc- tober 29, 1829, is now living in Sanilac county, Michigan; Catherine Cook became his wife and they had eight children. 4. Daniel, born January 14, 1831, is now living in Genesee county, Michigan; he married Margaret A. Morden and they had six children. 5. War- ren, born in November, 1833, and now resid- ing in Genesee county, married Hulda Sanborn and they had seven children. 6. Charles, born in 1835, died at the age of three years. 7. George, born December 3, 1837, is now living in London, Canada; he first married Lizzie Watts, who died, leaving no children; for his second wife he married Alvira Cheney, by whom he had six children. 8. Laura, born January 15, 1839, died at Presque Isle county, Michigan, in 1898 ; she married William Bur- gess and had eleven children, nine of whom are living. 9. Nancy, born in 1840, died at the age of fifteen years. 10. Phœbe, born July 12, 1840, is living in Presque Isle county, Michi- gan ; she has been twice married, first to Ar- chie Carmichael, now dead, and then to Will- iam Burgess, who was husband of Laura, the eighth daughter. 11. Sara, born June 12, 1842, is now a resident of Saginaw county ; she married John McKenzie and had two daughters. 12. Lyman, born in 1844, died at the age of ten months.
Eliakim Wood, the subject of this sketch and number thirteen of the children, was mar- ried to Elizabeth Porterfield,. April 7, 1870. She was born at Blanchard, Perth county, Can- ada, December 25, 1853, and is a daughter of James Porterfield, who was born at Ramsey, Canada, in 1826, and who died in Perth county in 1864. The maiden name of Mrs. Wood's! mother was Nancy Peasly. She was born in 1834 and now lives at the home of her son. The father of Mrs. Wood was originally a"
shoemaker but later in life bought a fifty-acre farm at Blanchard, Perth county, Canada, where he lived at the time of his death. In- deed, he always lived in Canada. The grand- father of Mrs. Wood on her father's side was James Porterfield, and her grandmother's maiden name .was Elizabeth Wallace. Both were natives of Scotland. Mrs. Wood was the first born of the family of six. The others are here named in the order of their birth : 2. Mary, born August 1854, died in May, 1864. 3. George, born November 18, 1855, is now living in Saginaw county, Michigan. He married Sara Woodworth and has four sons. 4. Sara, born December 22, 1858, and now living in Saginaw county, married Arthur Brewer and they have five children. 5. James, born October 9, 1861, lives in Gratiot county, Michigan ; he married Theresa Boyce, who is now dead, and had one child. He married Laura Powers for his second wife and she to him bore two children. 6. Andrew, born January 8, 1864, is living in Vernon township, Shiawassee county, Michigan ; he married Em- ma Cantley, but she is now dead, having had seven children.
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