USA > Michigan > Ingham County > Lansing > Past and present of the city of Lansing and Ingham county, Michigan > Part 34
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Among the older residents of the county, we are pleased to name Mr. George Traver, whose birth occurred in New York City, July 15, 1831, and who accompanied his parents to Michigan, when but one year of age. He was the son of Absolom and Char- lotte (Miller) Traver, both natives of the east, the father's birth occurring at Govern- ors Island, and the mother's in Boston, Mass. To them were born ten children, sev- en of them are living.
Mr. and Mrs. Absolom Traver were among the sturdy pioneers of Michigan, and figured quite prominently in the settlement of Ann Arbor, where they lived in 1832. The elder Traver bought one hundred and sixty acres north of the Huron river and cleared it with his own hands. In 1835 he built a saw mill, and had the honor of fur- nishing all the hardwood lumber for the first building at the University. During his resi- dence in New York City he followed the grocery business, but upon coming to Mich- igan followed the calling of a farmer. He sold the bulk of his farm in Ann Arbor in small parcels, keeping a portion for his home, where he lived until his death, which occurred August 12, 1868, at the age of sixty-eight years and eleven months.
Upon the death of the mother of our sub- ject in 1847. Mr. Traver was again mar- ried, with this union four children were born. two of whom are living. George. Traver, the sixth from the oldest of ten chil-
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dren, received his education in the common schools of Ann Arbor, and at the age of twenty-three started out for himself, going to Minnesota, where he was a teamster for one year, after which time he came back to Michigan, and for one year worked on his father's farm.
Our subject was married to Katherine El- len Kirk, daughter of John and Sarah (Howe) Kirk, July 26, 1855. Mrs. Traver was born August 30, 1836, in the Village of Dexter. Her parents were natives of England, and came to Michigan settling in Dexter in the year 1834, and bought forty acres of land where the high school now stands.
Mr. Traver worked for John M. Bour in a lumber yard for a while, and in the win- ter of 1857 moved from Ann Arbor to Ing- ham county, buying forty acres of land in Alaiedon township. In March, 1861, sold his farm and went to Ann Arbor, staying until the spring of 1862, when he moved to Leroy township, and on January 4, 1864, when the call came for men to defend the nation's honor, he enlisted in Co. B, Sixth Michigan Heavy Artillery; served twenty months and was mustered out August 20, 1865, never having received a wound.
Returning to civil life, he bought from the State his present farm of forty acres in Wheatfield township, of which one-half acre was cleared, and it boasted of a log house and no barn. Mr. Traver was obliged to work by the day to support his family, wages were very low at that time, receiving but fifty cents per day, and had to pay three dollars a bushel for wheat. By the help of his family he was enabled to clear up the land, and built the present buildings.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. George Traver were born five children: John A., born August 22, 1857, died April 17, 1884; Henry A. and George R., both live in Leroy township;
Nellie I., born December 27, 1864, is single and resides at home; William A., born De- cember 22, 1866, died when an infant.
. Socially Mr. Traver is a member of the G. A. R. Post at Williamston, being the chaplain of that order. He takes a citizen's interest in political affairs, and votes for the principles of the Republican party. Mr. Traver, though not in the best of health, carries on general farming, and the neat ap- pearance of his property gives abundant evi- dence that he understands the calling which he has chosen.
F. E. HOYT.
Frank E. Hoyt is a native of the City of Mason, having been born there in 1875. He is the son of George and Emma Hoyt. George Hoyt, the father, was born in 1841 in Ing- ham county, and was the son of E. M. Hoyt. He lived in his native town until twenty- one years of age, when he went west and worked in a silver mine, when after four or five years at this work he returned to Mason and clerked in a store, at the close of which time he engaged in the clothing business for himself. Our subject's father was engaged in this business for fourteen years, when he sold out and bought a farm of one hundred and eighty-six acres, which he improved, and upon which he built a mod- ern house, where he is now living, having retired from activity. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. George Hoyt, two of whom are living, our subject and Adah C., now the wife of L. B. McArthur. George Hoyt is a stockholder and director of the Farmers' Bank of Mason, fraternally is a Mason, and politically a Democrat.
Frank Hoyt, the subject of this sketch, received his early education in the Mason high school, after which he worked in the store for his father, and in 1898 was mar-
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JAMES H. SHAFER
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ried to Miss Gertrude Eaton, daughter of Abram Eaton of Ovid, immediately after which event, he came to the farm where he now resides.
Abram Eaton, the father of Mrs. Hoyt, was born in Oakland county, Mich., March 9, 1843. When a small boy he went with his parents to Ovid, settled on a farm there and sixteen years ago moved into Ovid, where he engaged in the manufacture of carriages, until his death, December 17, 1896. Mrs. Emma J. Eaton, mother of Mrs. Hoyt, was born March 24, 1847, at Ovid, and died August 4, 1890. Mrs. Hoyt is the youngest of four children. Mr. Eaton served his country during the whole war in Co. D of the First Michigan Cavalry.
Our subject is a member of the K. P. lodge at Mason, and in politics, believes that the principles of the Democrat party are the best fitted to govern the people. Mr. Hoyt though but a young man in years is an energetic farmer, who by his many good qualities and industry has won a warm place in the hearts of his fellow citizens.
George M. Hoyt, our subject's father, is a member of the Masonic fraternity Blue Lodge, and enthusiastic in the work of the order.
Mrs. George M. Hoyt's grandparents on her father's side were Abigail Smith and Solomon Vail Frost. On the side of her mother they were Eliza Hart and Isaac Merrit.
Frank E. Hoyt's parents were united in marriage June 18, 1867. His mother's maiden name was Emma Beaumont, she was born in Yorkshire, England, June 12, 1846. She died in October, 1889, aged forty-three years.
The grandparents of our subject on his father's side were natives of the Empire State. His grandfather, E. M. Hoyt, was born October 14, 1819. His grandmother,
Charlotte Losey Hoyt, was born October 19, 1823. They were married November 20, 1839. They were the parents of nine chil- dren, named respectively : George M .; Al- bert D., (deceased) ; Harriett E., (de- ceased) ; Mary E., (deceased) ; Albert, No. 2; Benjamin, (deceased) ; Sarah; Chauncy and Oscar.
Our subject's father, George M. Hoyt, was married June 10, 1891, to Miss Eliza Frost. Mrs. Hoyt was a native of Pough- keepsie, N. Y., where she was born April 24, 1844.
Her parents, Charles and Amelia Merrit Frost were natives of the Empire State, though of English extraction. They were for many years highly respected members of the society of Friends.
JAMES HENRY SHAFER.
James Henry Shafer was born July II, 1849, in the Village of Mason, County of Ingham, State of Michigan. He was the third of a family of five children born to Col. George W. and Deborah Horton Shafer.
Col. Shafer and his most estimable wife were both natives of Colchester, Delaware county, New York. The portraits of these venerable Christian pioneers with a bio- graphical sketch of their lives may be found upon page 315 in the History of Ingham and Eaton Counties. .
For the benefit of his children and poster- ity, Mr. James H. Shafer has here recorded the names of his brothers and sisters with the date of their birth in chronological order, with other data which he desires to have preserved.
Rufus, born September 21, 1845. died February 18, 1861, buried in Mason ceme- tery where the remains of his parents now lie: Jane D., born August 4, 1847, the
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widow of Delevan C. Smith, and mother of three children, as follows: Gertrude, Guy and Allie, all married and living useful, up- right lives ; Charles M., born July 6, 1851, married Almyra Gutches, who died June 5. 1875. In 1883 he married Catherine Gans- ley and owns the old Shafer residence and a portion of the farm, on North Main Street, within the city limits; Hannah H., born January 3, 1855, wife of J. A. Barnes of Aurelius township. Mrs. Barnes is the mother of two children: Mable and Nellie.
Mr. Shafer acquired his early education in the Mason school, this being prior to the organization of the high school. He, how- ever, completed the course and laid the foun- dation for a good, practical business educa- tion, which has done him a good turn in the many responsible positions he has been called to fill. It has been the rule of his life, to not only occupy, but to fill and dig- nify the positions of trust and honor, to which he has been elected by his fellow citi- zens.
Arriving at the years of his majority, he hired out to his father to work on the farm and stayed with him two years. In the meantime he made a most important ven- ture, being united in marriage, November 8, 1870, to Lucy E., daughter of N. G. and Eliza Saxton of Somerset, Hillsdale coun- ty, Michigan. Mrs. Shafer has demonstra- ted to her husband the truth of the proverb, that "Who findeth a wife, findeth a good thing." She has proven herself a good help- mate and a companion in all the varied ex- periences of their somewhat eventful lives. Mr. Shafer states with some degree of pride that upon his wedding day he cast his first vote and that for General Grant, for Presi- dent of the United States.
his face toward the setting sun, locating at Coffeeville in southern Kansas. He en- gaged in freighting goods by team from Coffeeville to Indian Territory, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, principally to the Osage tribe. The train often met rov- ing bands of Indians, more or less trouble- some, and thinking over his experiences in those years of frontier life, he congratulates himself on being fortunate enough to leave the country before receiving an "Indian hair cut."
Returning to Michigan he purchased a part of his father's land, ninety-five acres, practically all unimproved. He built a place to live and set himself to clearing up the land. He won out, not as it is sometimes expressed, "hands down," but by pluck and energy, hard days' work and lots of them. Today his one hundred acre farm is one of the finest within sound of the new court house bell. Good farm buildings, fine stock, modern improved farm implements ; just out- side the city limits, mixed farming has been his rule. Mr. Shafer has acquired some- thing of a local reputation as a sheep feeder, wintering for early spring market about three hundred head.
As a matter of convenience to himself and the junior members of his family attending the Mason high school, Mr. Shafer moved into the city, and erected a fine, modern, city residence in which he has established his family "for keeps."
For the past nine years Mr. Shafer has been the popular, efficient and painstaking Secretary of the Farmers' Mutual Fire In- surance Company, one of the best organiza- tions of its kind in the State.
By his frankness and cordiality and the "at home" feeling that comes to all callers at his office, he has won a strong constitu- ency among the members of the organiza-
Gathering up his small possessions, in 1872, he took the advice of the old farmer editor of the New York Tribune, and turned tion. He possesses to a marked degree, ap-
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proachableness, that so often characterizes the intelligent man reared in primitive rural life. While a resident of Vevay township, he was for seven years a member of the Board of Supervisors. His farm lies within the limits of the Mason school district, and Mr. Shafer has several years been a mem- ber of the School Board. A few years since Mr. Shafer received the nomination for Representative in the State Legislature; he simply lacked two requisite votes, to win. Capable and conscientious, he would have made an honorable record as a legislator.
Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Shafer : little Deborah, bearing the old time name of her now sainted grandmother, was born in Vevay, August 11, 1872, and died August 28, 1874, and buried in the cemetery at Coffeeville, Kansas. There be- ing no marble works in that section at that early date, Mr. Shafer secured a native stone of suitable dimension, and himself cut the inscription that marks the little mound containing the sacred dust of their first born ; Lennah P., born June 5, 1875, graduated at the Mason High School, was a successful teacher for some time and later finished a course at the Ypsilanti Normal. She is now the wife of Rev. George L. Sprague, pastor of the Baptist church at Lowell, Michigan. Mr. Sprague is a graduate of the Toronto Theological school and entered the work of the ministry, equipped for successful gospel teaching. Mrs. Sprague is the mother of Marjorie, born February 7, 1903. George N., born November 6, 1878, at Mason, re- ceived his early education at the Mason High School, and afterwards attended the State Normal at Ypsilanti. He has had consider- able experience as a teacher in the district schools of this county, an avocation which he gave several years of careful preparation. His parents may well feel proud of his at- tainments and prospects for a life of useful-
ness and correct deportment. Florence, born April 12, 1887, has finished the course of the Mason high school, is a most exemplary young lady and is still under the paternal roof.
Mr. Shafer is something of a "joiner." He is a member of the K. P.'s, Royal Ar- canum and the Grange, to all of which or- ganizations he gives added strength of dig- nity and character.
The Shafer family for four generations have been active and faithful adherents of the Baptist church society. Mr. Shafer's grandfather, Henry Shafer, was a deacon in the Baptist Church at Colchester, N. Y. His mantle fell on his worthy son, George W., and he in turn transmitted it to his dutiful son, James Henry, with more than average probability that he will hand it down to his son, George, without spot or wrinkle. The family are all united in church work, zeal- ously aggressive in every good enterprise.
SILAS E. VANNETER.
Among the prominent men of Williams- ton township we find the name of Silas E. Vanneter, who was born February 17, 1838. The father, John S. Vanneter, was born February 21, 1811, and the mother, Kather- ine (Schermerhorn), February 15, 1813. John S. Vanneter was a farmer, but when a young man was a wagon maker. He came to Michigan in September. 1846, and located in Williamston township on forty acres of land, all wild. There was a log house which he moved his family into, and there lived one winter, and the next winter built a larger one. He cleared off the land and shortly after he came bought forty acres more which he cleared. About the year 1857 he bought the eighty acres on which our subject now lives. Previous to his death he deeded the property to his four sons.
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John and Katherine Vanneter were mar- ried in Courtland county, N. Y., November 5, 1835. Both were born in that county. The father was a Democrat, and a member of the M. E. church, and died May 3, 1873. The mother died November 2, 1881.
Silas Vanneter was the second of ten children : Martin, born November 27, 1836, died October 19, 1867. He married Hattie Newman, July 4, 1864, and to them one child, Emma, was born. He was shot while attempting to arrest a burglar. Silas, our subject, born in New York; William, born June 5, 1840, died May 20, 1877, was born in New York, married Mary L. Harvey to whom one child was born, Ella; Milo, born in Ohio, August 30, 1842; Almina and Alvina, twins, born February 27, 1844. Al- mina died February 14, 1864, and Alvina, September 7, 1864. Alvina married Thos. Wilson to whom one child was born, Jennie, June 27, 1863, and died May 29, 1865. Martha, born May 9, 1845, and died Feb- ruary 25, 1868; James, born December 17, 1846, died September 18, 1847; Amos, born March 6, 1849, died January 29, 1868; Frank, born January 19, 1856, married July I, 1893, to Sadie Renfrew and resides in California.
Our subject acquired his early education in a primitive log school house of his district and started for himself at twenty-one years of age. He settled in Williamston town- ship, where his father bought him eighty acres of wild land. He improved the land and built a frame house and barn. When he first located upon this place he built a log house and kept "bachelor's hall" for seven years. He now owns eighty-eight acres of land with good buildings upon it. In re- ligious views Mr. Vanneter and his wife are to be found among the Baptist people.
February 16, 1868, Silas Vanneter was married to Abbie J. Leighton, whose father
was an old settler by the name of Nathan Leighton. He came to Michigan in 1854 and settled in Williamston township on one hundred twenty acres of wild land upon which were a log house and a small orchard, with twenty acres improved. He cleared the balance, however, in a short time. Mr. Leighton was born February 2, 1804, and died August 8, 1883, while the mother, Adi- gail (Carl), was born August 27, 1803, and died March 23, 1875. To Mr. and Mrs. Leighton were born eleven children, five of whom are living: Sara L., July 22, 1827, deceased. Sara married Merrit Chapel, Sep- tember 21, 1857. Susan, born February 19, 1829. She married William H. Shorman, September 23, 1848. Syrena, born Decem- ber II,' 1830, died August 14, 1843 ; Mary L., born December 28, 1832, died September 16, 1904. She married S. D. Watson. Hiram, born May 9, 1835, and died October 25, 1847; Stephen P., born January 19, 1837, married Rosella Loranger, December 30, 1866; Nathan, Jr., born July 26, 1839, married Julia Dancer; Mrs. Vanneter, born in Huron, Wayne Co., N. Y., Nov. 21, 1841 ; Jehial, born Aug. 10, 1844, died Aug. 14. 1844; Clarissa A., March 2, 1846, mar- ried James Apsey, March 23, 1866, and he died July 7. 1888; Nancy F., born January 6, 1849, died January 3, 1886. She mar- ried Frank Carl. Mrs. Vanneter's father was a Democrat and a member of the Uni- versalist church.
To Silas Vanneter and wife were born four children: May, August 18, 1870, at Honey Lake Valley, Lassen county, Cali- fornia. She married Herbert Bradley, May 25, 1897, and to them was born one child, Lena Ethelyn, July 11, 1899, and she died December 14, 1903. Merritt C., born in Williamston township, January 9, 1872, married Alice Finn, December 22, 1896, and to them one child has been born, James
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CAPT. GEO. A. MINAR
MRS. GEO. A. MINAR
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Clyde, Jan. 24, 1899; Pearl, born in Wil- liamston township, July 1, 1875, married Thomas A. Kelleher, Aug. 16, 1904; Chas. E., born in Wiliamston township, June 6, 1886, is now attending school at the Kala- mazoo College.
When' our subject's father first came to Michigan it was necessary to remove six trees from the road during the last six miles of the trip.
Our subject' remembers having seen, in the early days, eighteen deer in one drove. Mr. Vanneter's brother, Milo, was in the 26th Michigan Infantry, and served with that regiment from the time it was mustered in until the close of the war.
Mrs. Vanneter's parents were natives of Maine, and her father was once a teacher in New York, while she herself was a pioneer school teacher of Ingham county, having taught seven and a half years.
Mr. Vanneter has filled several positions of trust, among them being that of Village Assessor for Williamston for four terms, Village Constable eleven years, etc. Fra- ternally he is an active member of the Ma- sonic order, No. 153, Williamston. Mrs. Vanneter has been a member of the Eastern Star at Williamston since its organization, having been its first worthy matron.
CAPT. GEORGE A. MINAR.
There are in every community families that give to it character and dignity. Fam- ilies of whom their fellow townsmen are justly proud, and from whom they would be loth to part. Culture and refinement are appreciated in a measure by those who never attain to them. It is by universal claim and common consent that Capt. George A. Minar and his most estimable wife have been given place in this class. Cultured, intelligent, benevolent, they are solving the problems of
life in a manner that brings to them joy, pleasure and happiness. Possessing those qualities of heart and mind that readily recognize the needs and claims of others, they have each been the blessing and bene- diction in many lives.
George A. was the third of eight children, born to Capt. Lyman and Anstress (Jen- kins) Minar, his place of birth being Ellis- burg, N. Y. He entered upon the activities of this life, November 26, 1852. When George was about twelve years of age, his father moved with his family to Toledo, O., where he remained four years, then came to Michigan and settled in Mason. George, while a lad, attended the school of his native town and later at Toledo, O., and finished his schooling at the Mason High School at the age of nineteen years. The same year he began sailing with his father, who was captain of a vessel on the great lakes. At twenty years of age he was made captain and given command of the boat known as the "Montpelier," running between Ogdens- burg and Chicago. During all the interven- ing years, with but an exception or two, Captain Minar has sailed during the sum- mer months. For the past eight years he has had command of the "Northwest." one of the largest passenger boats on the lakes, employing one hundred and eighty-five men for her management. Her length is three hundred and eighty-five feet, has two thirty-five hundred horse-power engines and ten boilers, which consume seven
tons of coal per hour. She is well equipped with an electric light plant sufficient for a town of four thousand five hundred people. The Northwest plies be- tween Buffalo and Duluth, touching at Houghton. Hancock, and other important cities on the route. She has ample accom- modations for six hundred and fifty passen- gers. Being exclusively for passenger traf-
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fic,- she is out only about four months in the year. The remainder of the time, Capt. Minar spends with his family at their pleas- ant farm home one mile south of Mason city.
The captain and "my wife," as he puts it, own one hundred acres of choice tillable land, with fine new farm buildings, to which they are annually adding improvements. Among the prized trophies that have come to Capt. Minar, in his official capacity, is a copy of engrossed preamble and resolution, passed by the Buffalo Merchants' Exchange, while on board the Northwest, September 28, 1899. They were accompanied by a purse of one hundred dollars in gold. So far as pertained to the captain and his ves- sel, they read as follows: "The passengers of the Northwest are nearing the end of their delightful journey. They have trav- eled over two thousand miles on this mag- nificent ship and have had brought to them in the most vivid and striking way, the greatness of the lake commerce, the vigor and vast possibilities of the western lake cit- ies and the intimate dependence of their own beautiful city at the foot of Lake Erie upon the growth and prosperity of the younger, but not less energetic communities, visited. Not only is it fitting and proper but a great pleasure to us to make recognition of all the courtesies which have been showered upon us since we left home and to express as ade- quately as our words will permit, the pleas- ure we have had and our appreciation of the kindness and hearty good will we have ex- perienced. We desire to extend our thanks to Mr. W. C. Farington and the other offic- ials of the Northern Steamship Company. They have responded to our every wish, have let us make our own schedules and have shown us in many ways that their only de- sire has been to minister to our pleasure.
From first to last they have been broad minded and generous. We congratulate. them on the possession of this magnificent ship and the success which has attended the first excursion of the Buffalo Merchant's Exchange.
To Captain Minar and the officers of the vessel we cannot express our debt of grati- tude. It has been our pleasure to witness Captain Minar's masterly handling if his ship and we have had occasion to know how considerate he has been for our comfort. He gave a hearty and ready assent to our - proposal to take this great steamer through the beautiful but narrow and tortuous chan- nels of the Portage Canal, thereby affording us one of the greatest pleasures of our trip -- a pleasure we did not expect when we left Buffalo. While we were in our cabins last night, his watchful care for our comfort led him far up into Saginaw Bay, nearly sixty miles out of his regular course in order that we might escape the full force of the gale on Lake Huron. Modest and unassuming, but past master of his profession, Capt. Minar deserves and has the hearty good-will of every passenger on the ship, and one and all we wish him happiness and prosperity.
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