USA > Michigan > Ingham County > Lansing > Past and present of the city of Lansing and Ingham county, Michigan > Part 43
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Upon the emigration of the Ingalls family to Michigan in 1844, they settled in Jackson county, where they lived for eight years and came to Ingham county in 1852 and bought forty acres in Leslie township. Seven chil- dren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Ingalls, of which four are living today : Mrs. Hasbrouck, Mrs. Hull, Mrs. Duncan Cam-
eron and our subject. Aaron T. Ingalls was the third child in the family and was raised in Genesee county, N. Y., where he lived until twenty-two years of age. When eleven years of age he started out in life for him- self, working out for wages in the summer . and in the winter working for his board and attending school. Our subject came to Michigan in 1852 and settled in Jackson county, three miles east of Napoleon and lived there for one year, when he came to Ingham county and bought a partially im- proved farm of eighty acres in Onondaga township. Here he lived for four or five years and then sold out and went to Macomb county for a time and then traded this prop- erty for a farm south of Leslie. From this farm he went into the mercantile business in Leslie and then bought a farm near Eaton Rapids, which he disposed of and bought a hotel in Leslie which he conducted for three years. This hotel was traded for the farm of eighty acres where he now lives. He came to this farm in 1868, and since then has pur- chased seventy acres west of this place.
In 1861 Aaron T. Ingalls was united in marriage to Miss Marietta, daughter of Elon G. Annis of Ingham county and to them three children were born: Emma married Paul Darling, Minnie is at home, and Aaron married Miss Blanche, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Belcher of Leslie, and now lives on the home farm. The wife and mother of this family died at Leslie in 1896 and was buried in the Onondaga cemetery.
In fraternal relations our subject is allied with the Masonic order and has been elected by the Republican party to the office of Con- stable and Highway Commissioner.
Mr. Ingalls has been extensively engaged in farming and in connection with this has owned many superior grades of horses. He at one time owned Sir Charles, the finest horse ever in the county and kept him as
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long as he lived, or until he was thirty-two years old. Mr. Ingalls used to drive trotting horses on the old fair grounds at Lansing.
Mr. Ingalls is practically a self-made man, starting out alone, at the age of eleven years, with no home until he made one for himself. When he came to this country everything was wild. There was no railroad through Canada and one was built by laying logs down straight and took all day to make the trip from Detroit to Jackson. The country was in a primitive state when he came here, and like other pioneer settlers, he began at the bottom of the ladder and is truly the architect of his own fortune.
S. C. IVES.
Carlyle says "Biography is the most uni- versally pleasant and profitable of all read- ing." The history of nations and great men can be written from permanent records, but the incidents in the life of the average citizen can only be written from personal knowl- edge, and if neglected until after death, the history passes away with the individual and is lost to the world forever. The preserva- tion in permanent form of one's biography is simply the payment of a just debt one owes to posterity.
Simeon C. Ives was born at Lansing, Tompkins county in the State of New York, August 13, 1835. He was the youngest of a family of ten children born to Orin and Mary (Gibbs) Ives, who were natives of the Empire State and emigrated with their fam- ily to the wilds of Michigan in the year of 1837, and settled in the Township of Una- dilla, Livingston county, upon an unim- proved tract of forty acres of land. The father was born May 30, 1791, and the mother June 20 of the same year.
Orrin Ives was a shoemaker by trade and followed his occupation through life. In the
early days home made "foot gear" was a great convenience. After ten years resi- dence at Unadilla, the elder Ives sold out and purchased eighty acres of land with small improvements near the village of Stockbridge, Ingham Co., where the family lived until some years after the death of the father, which occurred April 15, 1859. With the exception of one brother, who died while a young man, the entire family lived out the allotted years of life.
Our subject received his early education in the district schools convenient to the family home and it was of the quality afforded country boys of his time. After attaining to the years where the boy could be made helpful at home, it became a struggle of "catch as catch can" for a few months schooling in the winter season. However, observation and experience have proved to be good teachers and many a man has won out in the struggle of life, whose early educa- tional advantages were limited. Mr. S. C. Ives has it to his credit of being one of that number. Mr. Ives was but 16 years of age at the time of his father's death ; he and his brother, Wm. Henry, two years his senior, assumed the responsibility of keeping the family together and caring for the farm. The mother passed away and her remains rest beside those of her husband in the vil- lage cemetery at Stockbridge.
Mr. Ives was united in marriage May 26, 1832, to Miss Laura, daughter of Levi and Lydia Burgess Westfall of Unadilla, in which township the Westfalls settled in 1837. Mrs. Ives was of a family of eleven children. Her parents were natives of New York.
Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ives; Melvin B., born December 21, 1860. Melvin has always lived with his father on the home farm and has now prac- tically assumed the management of affairs,
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relieving his father from the cares and per- plexities of the farming operations. He was united in marriage December 21, 1881, to Miss Nora Kellog, who was born in Wheat- field April 15, 1857. They have two child- ren named respectively, Herman S., born July 12, 1886, and Grace S., born July 24, 1893, both at home with parents. A little daughter Bernice was born November 4, 1885, died at the age of three months.
Lydia, born May 15, 1863, now the wife of Wells Skinner to whom she was married, 1893. They have no children. Mrs. Mel- vin Ives is a sister of H. Kellog of Mason, whose history and other important data of the family occur elsewhere in this volume.
Mr. S. C. Ives after marriage purchased an improved farm of eighty acres two miles east of the village of Stockbridge and farmed it successfully for the term of thirty years. when desiring to extend his farming opera- tions, sold out and purchased the splendid tract of 160 acres in Wheatfield township, which has since been his home. His is one of the attractive rural homes of the township. the location of the buildings is sightly, and the surrounding landscape one of attractive- ness and beauty. The farm is under a high state of cultivation and an air of thrift and progressive enterprise pervades the entire premises. Mr. Ives and son carry on mixed farming, stock raising and crop growing jointly. Considerable attention has been given to growing horses-roadsters.
Mr. Ives has never been in the hands of his friends for public position, though often urged to accept place, he has declined prefer- ring to give his personal matters undivided attention. At the last general election, he was placed upon the Prohibition ticket as candidate for the office of Judge of Probate and made a good run, and would have made an efficient officer if elected. He formerly affiliated with the Democracy as did his father
before him, but realizing the awful havoc being wrought upon our christian civilization by the legalized liquor traffic, as a christian man duty was made plain to him and he lined up on the side of God and home and a better civilization for Americans.
Mr. Ives has been for many years a mem- ber of the fraternal organization of the Masons at Stockbridge, Lodge No. 130 Mrs. Ives died, 1898. A woman of many virtues.
. Mr. and Mrs. Ives and the other members of the family have long had a home in the Methodist church. While bereft of the com- panionship of his devoted wife in the declin- ing years of his life, he is greatly blessed in home surroundings by a most dutiful son and daughter and grandchildren. Mr. Ives is an uncle of Col. L. H. Ives of Mason, whose biography appears elsewhere in this volume, in connection with which is a more extended genealogy of the family.
JOHN R. KINGMAN.
John Riley Kingman, a highly respected and representative farmer of Aurelius town- ship, residing on section six, is a native of New York, having been born there October 17, 1845. He is a son of William Riley and Mary Maranda Kingman, who were natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio respectively. The early education of the father was of a limited character and acquired in his native state, where he early became identified with the lumber business, as a teamster, which occu- pation he followed for some years, when, in 1850, with his wife and four children he emi- grated westward and arrived at Jackson, Michigan, from which place he went to Char- lotte, arriving there with but fifty cents in his pocket.
The father purchased eighty acres in Ben- ton township. Here the family began pio-
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JOHN R. KINGMAN AND FAMILY
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neer life in the most primitive manner. A log house was built and occupied for several months before the shake roof was completed. The father split logs for a puncheon floor. With characteristic pluck and energy the im- provements began, and were pushed forward under adverse circumstances, with persistent perseverance, and within a single decade he was "out of the woods" and was recognized as one of the progressive farmers in his sec- tion of the country. Another eighty acres was added to the farm and improved.
Here the father resided for a number of years or until his death, which occurred March 19, 1886. He was one of the honored pioneer residents of that locality, a man of strong determination of purpose, and he eventually became the possessor of a very valuable property.
J. R. Kingman was one, and the oldest of a family of five children, as follows: The second, James Oren, born April 1, 1847, married and lives four miles 'north of Char- lotte ; he has five children. The third, Fran- ces, born February 12, 1849, married John W. Myers and resides at Eaton Rapids ; they have two children. The fourth, Jane R., born April 10, 1853, married Seth Robbins, a farmer residing four miles north of Char- lotte, and they have four children ; three are now deceased. The fifth, Benjamin A., born June 3, 1856, married and resides eight miles north of Charlotte.
William R. Kingman, our subject's father was a man of deep religious convictions, and took a strong and active part in the temper- ance cause. He died at the age of sixty-four and was buried in the Potterville Cemetery. The mother died in 1856 and also lies buried beside him.
The early education of J. R. Kingman was acquired at Benton, Eaton county, in the dis- trict schools, attending until the age of six- teen. On the 18th day of August, 1864, he
enlisted as a private in the 2nd Michigan Cavalry, and was engaged in several hard fought battles, among them Franklin and Nashville. Mr. Kingman was seventeen years of age when he joined his regiment on the battlefield of Nashville, Tenn., as a re- cruit. He went into the fight with his com- mand, his first military order and drill hav- ing been received while under fire from the enemy. A comrade at his side went down in the conflict. This was indeed a nerve racking experience for a youth fresh from the walks of civil life. He was engaged in the battles of Cypress River. Tenn., October 7, 1864; Raccoon Ford, Tenn., October 30, 1864: Shoal Creek, Tenn., November 5. 1864: Lawrenceburg, Tenn., November 21, 1864; Campbellsville, Tenn., November 24. 1864; Columbia, Tenn., November 25, 26 and 27, 1864; Springhill, Tenn., November 29. 1864; Bethesda Church, Tenn., Novem- ber 29, 1864; Franklin, Tenn., November 30, 1864; Nashville, Tenn., December 15, 16, 1864: Richland Creek, Tenn., December 24, 1864: Pulaski, Tenn .. December 25. 1864: Sugar Creek, Tenn., December 26. 1864: Princeton Ford, Tenn., January 6. 1865.
By reason of sickness young Kingman was confined to the hospital at Cairo for a time, and later transferred to Detroit. Mich- igan. He was mustered out and honorably discharged June 26. 1865, by reason of close of war.
Returning to civil life Mr. Kingman was sick for nearly a year. He was placed upon the pension rolls at $10.00 per month.
Until twenty-one years of age Mr. King- man remained at home assisting his father in the farm labor. Arriving at the age of his majority he started out for himself, first re- ceiving employment in a lumber camp near Saginaw where he remained for five years. April 18. 1871, he was united in marriage to
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Miss Matilda Hannah Woolfitt of Genesee county. To this most worthy woman, Mr. Kingman gives credit for much of the suc- cess that has come to them during the years of their wedded life. She was a daughter of Jane Marie Allen and John Woolfitt, natives of Canada and England respectively. Mr. Woolfitt came to Michigan directly from England and settled in Genesee county upon a farm, which was ever after his home. He lived to the advanced age of eighty-seven years. The mother passed away at the age of eighty-four. They were highly respected citizens and devoted christian people. They have left to their descendants the rich legacy of well spent lives. Their children revere their memory by imitating their virtues. The family consisted of nine children, six daughters and three sons, two only of whom are deceased. Those alive are all living lives of uprightness and helpfulness.
To Mr. and Mrs. Kingman have been born three daughters. Data respecting them and their families is given here :
Jennie May, born January 26, 1876, now the wife of William Bertrand Bunker, to whom she was married September 28, 1898. by Rev. W. R. Yonker ; they have one child, Helen Maurine, born January 25, 1904. Mr. and Mrs. Bunker reside with her par- ents; Mr. Bunker is managing the farm under contract-a new house is being erected on the premises for their permanent home.
Bertha Caroline, the second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Kingman was born March 18, 1879. Miss Bertha graduated from the Eaton Rapids high school in the class of '98, and later attended Olivet College. She was united in marriage to Howard R. H. Wil- liams, a young attorney, January 1, 1902, at high noon by Rev. Thomas Young. Mr. and Mrs. Williams are both teaching at Gresham, Nebraska. Mr. Williams being principal of the high school at that place.
Mabel Izora, the youngest daughter, was born March 29, 1884, died at the age of eight years. Her remains were laid at rest at Mt. Morris Cemetery, Genesee county, Michigan.
Mr. Kingman was twenty-four years of age when he made his first purchase of real estate. He bought sixty acres of land in Eaton county, of this, twenty-five acres were improved. He later added forty acres. On this forty acres there was a large sugar bush of six hundred beautiful maple trees. There Mr. Kingman and his good wife toiled hard, day after day, and often times all night, car- ing for the sap, which they made into sugar. It was by the sale of this sugar and by de- priying themselves of many of the luxuries of life, that they were able to make a pay- ment on their farm every spring, and thus secure for themselves a home.
In the year 1886 he sold this property and purchased the place where he now resides in Ingham county, owning at this time two hundred and fifteen acres of highly improved land. Everything about these premises is modern, and it needs but a glance to establish the fact that its owner is a man of progres- siveness and enterprise. The house is mod- ern in every sense of the word, being heated by furnace and lighted by electric lights. Large windmills furnish water to all parts of the farm. Mr. Kingman has taken an indi- vidual pride in the construction of such im- provements and appliances as act as labor saving devices and which materially add to the comforts of the family.
Mr. Kingman affiliates with the Republican party and is a strong advocate of the temper- ance cause, and has courage to vote his con- victions. He is a man of strong character, a kind father and loving husband.
Surrounded by all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life, he and his good wife are now enabled to enjoy the fruits of their
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former toil, and it is unto such men and women Ingham county now owes its present prosperous condition.
WILLIAM HARWOOD.
William Harwood, who is a native of New York, born in 1834, is a representative of one of Ingham county's honored pioneer families. His parents, Thomas and Eliza- beth Harwood, were natives of England and emigrated to America and settled in New York, and in 1836 became pioneer residents of Ingham county. Here the father erected the second log house that was built in Onon- daga township. The father was a farmer by occupation, securing a government claim, he began to clear it off and make the necessary improvements for its cultivation. Eliza Harwood, the mother, died in 1834, and the father again married and moved to Jackson, where he resided until his death.
The early education of our subject was re- ceived at the primitive log school house of his township and he remained under the par- ental roof for a number of years, assisting his father in the working of the home farm. The property of his father was willed to our subject's oldest brother, who was to pay the father an income of two hundred dollars per year. Our subject, however, had a small interest in the property which he later sold and bought eighty acres where he now re- sides. He later added forty more and then later another forty, and as he prospered, he again added forty acres until his farm bound- aries now comprise two hundred acres of splendidly improved land. Upon this place he has erected a good residence and good substantial barns, making it one of the best improved properties in that locality.
In 1861, Mr. Harwood was united in mar- riage with Miss Rachel Baldwin of Onon- daga township, and this union was blessed
with seven children, four of whom are now living: Mina H, the wife of J. P. Smith; Eursula, the wife of George Snyder, and Harry, who resides on the home farm. Mr. Harwood affiliates with the Democracy and has long been an ardent and staunch supporter of that party. At the time of his location here there was but little if any resemblance to the general appearance of the country where its thriving villages and fertile fields now abound. This was once the home of the Red Men, who roamed about through the forests where these places now stand.
The primitive log cabin no longer marks the abodes of our pioneer forefathers, who were the history makers of this locality. The name of Harwood has been indelibly en- graved upon the pages of the pioneer history of Ingham county and to the memory of such men and families are these records recorded.
J. J. KAISER.
Some of the most intelligent and honored families of Ingham county came from Ger- many, and have traits of character which have been of great value, not only to them- selves and family, but also to the community in which they have made their homes.
J. J. Kaiser was born in Wortemburg, Germany, April 5, 1839, and is the son of Christopher Kaiser, born in Germany, where he always lived and died when our subject was but a small boy. The father was a farmer in Germany.
Our subject is one of ten children : John lived in Germany, now dead; Mary died in Jackson December 13, 1904; Louisa, born in Germany and died there; she was the wife of John Phillips; George died in Meridian township, his wife was Miss Wysinger and they have seven children, six of whom are living ; Caroline died in Germany ; Mike, liv-
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ing in Jonesville, Michigan; our subject ; Louise died in infancy. and an infant.
J. J. Kaiser came to America in 1855 and stopped in Pennsylvania a few months, then came to Jackson county, and was employed on a farm for two years, went west and worked on a farm for two more years, then came back to Michigan and worked for his brother for seven years.
Our subject was married on Thanksgiving Day in 1868 to Louise Wisnor. She was born February 5, 1849, and was the daughter of Jacob Wisnor, who first settled in Wash- tenaw county and afterwards on a farm in Meridian township. Mrs. Kaiser was one of a family of seven children, the others being Jacob, who lives in Dakota; John in the Up- per Peninsula on Lake Superior ; George; Christina ; William lives at Pine Lake, and Fred lives in the Upper Peninsula.
Mr. Kaiser went to school in Germany and soon after reaching this country and has always regretted that he did not get a better education. He believes in improving the educational advantages that are before one, and has given his children the opportunity to acquire a good education.
After our subject married he bought forty acres where he now lives. This was partly cleared and upon it was a small frame house and log stable. He has since added forty acres to the farm and now owns eighty acres, well improved, with a large frame house and good barns.
J. J. Kaiser and wife are the parents of five children: John G., born March 13. 1870, lives on an eighty acre farm near Pine Lake. His wife was Daisy Towner ; Louise, born November 10. 1871, lives in Jackson, took care of a sister who died recently ; Katie, born December 29, 1873, is single and lives in Jackson; Fred William, born Sep- tember 8, 1879, bought the Gil Cushman farm at Pine Lake. He was married in
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1904 to Dora Weaver; Gus, born February 23. 1882, is employed at the Gas Works in Lansing.
Our subject will be found in the ranks of the Democrat party, yet he is not an office seeker. He held the position as assessor in connection with the school for District No. 7.
The Kaiser family are communicants of the German Lutheran Church and are active in its field of labor.
J. J. Kaiser is engaged in general farming. There has never come to this land of ours from foreign climes, a more reliable and solid class of emigrants, than those who were sent us from Germany, and to Germany we owe a great deal for the energy, ability and noble traits of its sons and daughters.
DANIEL D. KINGSBURY.
The subject of this brief biography was born February 14. 1841, and was the fourth of ten children born to Lemuel H. and Jerusha M. Durbon Kingsbury who were natives of the Empire State where the father was born in 1807 and the mother in 1813. In the year 1838 they emigrated west and settled at Wakeman, Ohio, in the Buckeye state. The father was a shoemaker by trade which he carried on in connection with his limited farming operations. He made sev- eral changes of base in life and though an industrious, hard working man he was somewhat handicapped with a large family and never succeeded in accumulating any considerable property. He, however, left to his children the legacy of an upright christ- ian life, supplemented by kindness and ser- vice. Both parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. The father died in the year 1880 and the mother in 1883. Their remains rest side by side in the cemetery at Wakeman, Ohio.
The following is the list of names of the
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children in the order of their birth: Mary A., Daniel D., Martha, Sarah, Ruth, Lemuel M., John, James M., Romain J., and Alvira E.
Daniel D. Kingsbury was making the most of his opportunity for securing an edu- cation. He was a student in Oberlin Col- lege, Ohio, at the time of the breaking out of the War of the Rebellion. In answer to his country's call for volunteers to defend her flag and honor, he enlisted September 12, 1861, in the 7th Ohio Infantry, with which he served for about thirteen months when he was mustered out to enlist in Co. A, U. S. Engineers, with which he served until Sep- tember 28, 1864, when he was honorably dis- charged at Petersburg, Va. Mr. Kingsbury participated in the following engagements : Winchester, Va., Port Republic. In this battle his brother Romain J., who was a member of his company and regiment, was killed ; Cedar Mountain, 2nd Bull Run, An- tietam, Fredericksburg, Cold Harbor, siege of Petersburg, Wilderness, besides several skirmishes. Mr. Kingsbury received a gun shot wound in the left shoulder at the battle of Winchester.
Following his muster out of service, Mr. Kingsbury returned to his old home where he remained until the spring of 1865 when he came to Michigan, and the following win- ter taught school at Brighton. He located at Brighton in Livingston county and pur- chased a small tract of partially improved land. This he improved for a time and finally sold out and built a home at Brighton. On the 14th of March, 1867, he was happily united in marriage to Miss Mary A. Fill- more, daughter of a Livingston county pioneer. Mrs. Kingsbury's father came from New York state, first settling in Ma- comb county early in the forties. For sev- eral years prior to their death, her parents resided at Brighton, Mich. The mother
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