Portrait and biographical album, Mecosta county, Mich., containing portraits and biographical sketches, Part 59

Author: Chapman Brothers
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman brothers
Number of Pages: 684

USA > Michigan > Mecosta County > Portrait and biographical album, Mecosta county, Mich., containing portraits and biographical sketches > Part 59

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

illiam H. Webster, of the firm of G. W. Webster & Son, architects and builders, Big Rapids, was born in Montoursville, Lycoming Co., Pa., Dec. 13, 1857.

G. W. Webster operated many years as Master Mechanie on various railroads in the East, and came to Cleveland, Ohio, in 1867. A year later he came to Big Rapids and engaged as contrac- tor in building bridges, depots, round-houses, etc., on the G. R. & I. railroad, afterward entering the service of the C. & W. M. railroad in the same capacity.

William H. Webster attended school in his native town until he was 17 years old, when he came to Big Rapids, and was some time under the instructions of his father in learning the business of architect and builder. Meanwhile he went back to Pennsylvania, where he spent two winters at Williamsport College, and afterward went to Hillsdale College one winter. Ile studied architecture in the winter of 1882-3, in the office of Hewitt Bros., of Philadelphia.

His partnership with his father was formed in 1880,

since which they have operated together as builders, etc., furnishing also plans, specifications and esti- mates of cost of buildings. They have erected a number of buildings at Big Rapids.

athan M. Coates, farmer, sec. 4, Big Rap- ids Tp., was born June 2, 1829, in North- amptonshire, Eng., and when a year old was brought to this country by his parents. Mr. Coates came to Michigan in June, 1852, and settled ín Muskegon County, and purchased a farm of 120 acres, where he resided until 1857. In that year he sold his place and came to Big Rapids, where he bought 80 acres of land, then in its primal condition of dense wilderness, lying one mile north- west of the city limits, and the homestead where he has since resided. He has cleared and improved 60 acres, which is now in a fine state of cultivation, and has a good frame house and other creditable farm appurtenances.

Mr. Coates was married April 15, 1860, to Emily Jane Preston, of Big Rapids, born in Owego, N. Y., Sept. 9, 1841. She died Nov. 30, 1877, leaving seven children : William H., George D., Lucy A., Harriet L., Charles (died June 14, 1883), Anna and Nathan. Mr. Coates was a second time married Oct. 12, 1880, to Delinda Mawhorter, born in Ohio, Jan. 28, 1837. She was a widow with one son, Willard A.

Mr. Coates has been Justice of the Peace six years and Road Commissioner the same length of time. Himself and wife are members of the Baptist Church.

ohn Hinton, first settler in the township of Hinton, was a native of Wales. He mar- ried Phebe Ribble, a native of New Jersey, in 1812. They came to Mecosta County in October, 1855, and settled on sec. 15. Mrs. Hinton's death occurred Feb. 18, 1860, and was the first event of the kind in the township. It is held that the second marriage of Mr. Hinton to Mariette Rockwood, celebrated May 26, 1860, was the first marriage in the township. The first frame

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barn was erected by Mr. Hinton in 1856. He died Jan. 4, 1874. The township was named in his honor.

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tephen Hoynes, resident at Big Rapids was born in Olmstead, now West View, Cuyahoga Co., Ohio, Dec. 26, 1858, and is a son of Daniel and Catherine Hoynes. His father was born in Amsterdam, N. Y., in 1829, pursued agriculture all his life and died at West View, May 2, 1878. His mother was born in New York in 1826, and is resident on the homestead at West View.

Mr. Hoynes was engaged in acquiring his educa- tion until the age of 16, when he was apprenticed to a tailor at Olmstead Falls, and served four years, fit- ting himself in all details for a practical tailor. He then went to Cleveland and entered the employ of Jacob Wageman as cutter. He worked successively for Henry Cobel, and Petzkie & Stern, remaining with the latter house four years, meanwhile obtaining a commercial education in the Spencerian Business College. He came to Big Rapids Feb. 15, 1882, to enter the employ of F. W. Joslin as chief of the merchant-tailoring department, of which he is still in charge. He is popular and efficient in all the branches of business of which he is the manager.

John H. Hoynes, his brother, is a member of the firm of Adams & Hoynes, hardware dealers at Cleve- land. William Hoynes, another brother, is manager of a department with C. M. Clark & Co., hardware merchants of the same city. Michael J. Hoynes, a third brother, is foreman of the Cleveland Electro- type Company.

ames H. Buck, farmer, scc. 7, zEtna Tp., was born in New York, Oct. 1, 1830, and is a son of Allen and Mary Buck, both natives of New York, where they resided until about 1862. In that year they came to Barry Co., Mich., where they remained during the closing years of their lives. The father died in 1866 and

the mother departed this life very soon afterward.

Mr. Buck was married in New York, in 1855, to Sophia, daughter of George and Hannah Christer. She was born in the Empire State in 1832. Of this marriage 11 children have been born : Mary (Mrs. John Carlon); Hannah (wife of Alphonso Oberley) ; George, Charles and Lewis W. There are six de- ceased, viz: Len, Caroline, James, Gertrude and two children who died in infancy.

Mr. Buck came to Mecosta County in 1866, and settled on So acres of land, which he had previously purchased in .Etna Tp., which has since been his homestead. lle is a member of the M. E. Church, and is an indorser of the principles of the Republican party,

ames Aitken, lumberman and farmer, Big Rapids, is a native of Albany, N. Y., where he was born July 7, 1831. His parents, Jolın and Janet (Bald) Aitken, were both born in Scotland. The father was engaged in the manufacture of patent leather in Albany, and when his son was but a child removed his family to a farm in Kingston, C'an., where the boy was brought up to agricultural pursuits and trained as a lumber- man. At 17 he was employed in the Dominion as a "[and-looker."

He went to Ancaster, Can., in 1856, where he re- mained four years, removing thence to Morris, Huron Co., C'an., and bought a farm of 102 acres, where he gave his attention to agriculture eight years. His next transfer of home and interests was to Albion, Calhoun Co., Mich. He remained there one year, and in 1867 came to Big Rapids, where he was en- gaged some years as a land inspector. Hle after- wards formed a partnership with Wm. Phippen, in the purchase of pine lands, putting the timber in the' river. This relation existed three years, and on its dissolution he entered into a business association with S. H. Gray, and prosecuted the same enterprise until the spring of 1883, when their connection ceased.

On the location of Mr. Aitken at Big Rapids, he

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bought two city lots of C. C. Fuller, and built his dwelling-house. In 1868 he bought 120 acres of land in the Fourth Ward, all of which is in a state of progressive cultivation. He is also the proprietor of 120 acres of hard-wood land in the southeast 14 of sec. 34, and of 40 acres in the northwest 14 of sec. 13, township of Big Rapids, besides several tracts of stump land, aggregating between 1,500 and 1,600 acres. He was elected member of the City Council in the spring of 1883.

Mr. Aitken was married in Ancaster, Can. W., Dec. 15, 1856, to Jennett, daughter of Alexander and Dorothy (Wright) Patterson, born at Dundas, Can., June 10, 1838. Robert, eldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Aitken, was born Dec. 15, 1857, at Ancaster, and died at Big Rapids, Dec. 5, 1869; Jennie was born at Ancaster, Oct. 18, 1859; David A., was born Nov. 17, 1861, in Morris, Can., and John, born in the same place, Aug. 12, 1863. They are all at home.

ohn Franklin Brown (deceased), was born in Newark Tp., Tioga Co., N. Y., where he grew to manhood under the supervision and instruction of his parents, and received a busi- ness training' whose character and value were amply elaborated by the splendor of his career until it was closed by his death.

His business life began in Owego, Tioga Co., N. Y., where he was employed as a lumberman by a gentleman named George Hollenbeck, after which he engaged in the lumber and stock trade in his native State, having his headquarters at Owego, N. Y., until he located at Big Rapids. In 1864 he came West and began lumber operations, where is now the beautiful and thriving Forest City, then a village comparatively, and in 1868 he transferred his entire interests to this point, where he was actively engaged until his death, which occurred March 30, 1881.

His business connections at Big Rapids were ex- tensive and varied, and in their management he dis- played a shrewdness and judgment second to that of no man who was ever associated with the public affairs or commercial interests of Mecosta County.

His influence will be felt until the present generation have joined him in the world beyond, and the enter- prises which he initiated and assisted in establishing are among the most prominent, permanent and reli- able of this city and county. In 1871 he organized the Tioga Manufacturing Company, and was its Managing Director as long as he lived. He was as- sociated in the organization of the Northern National Bank at Big Rapids in 1871, and his connection therewith as its second official Vice-President termi- nated only with his life.

Mr. Brown was never married. In his private life his record is stainless ; he won and held the confidence of his friends, and those whom he assisted in seasons of perplexity preserve for him deep and lasting grati- tude. The business and social world of Big Rapids will long cherish the memory of his unselfishness and solicitude for the best interests of the community and mourn his irreparable loss. (See sketch of Maria Brown.)

ohn Hickey, Big Rapids, was born July 23, 1845, at Montreal, Can., and is a son of John and Angelique Hickey. He was brought up on a farm until the age of 17, at- tending school most of the time.

In 1860 he went to the State of New York and was there variously occupied one year, when he came to Muskegon, Mich., engaging in the lumber woods and driving logs in the river. In the fall of 1874 he came to Big Rapids and engaged in the Montreal House as a clerk. The following spring he engaged as clerk in the clothing store of F. W. Jos- lin, where he remained two years. He then entered the employ of A. Sachen, clothing merchant, and clerked there two years.

In 1879 he opened business at his present stand, where he keeps a good stock of foreign and domestic liquors, cigars, etc., and is doing a thriving business.

He was married at Big Rapids, Sept. 12, 1876, to Fanny Smith, born in l'embroke, Can. Mr. and Mrs. Hickey are the parents of two children,-Angelique and John.

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HISTORICAL

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INTRODUCTORY.

ITHIN one brief generation, a dense and unbroken wilder- ness has been transformed into a cultivated region of thrift and prosperity, by the untiring zeal and energy of an enterprising people. The trails of hunters and trappers have given place to railroads and thoroughfares for vehicles of every description ; the cabins and garden patches of the pioneers have been succeeded by comfortable houses and broad fields of waving grain, with school- houses, churches, mills, postoffices and other institutions of conven- ience for each community. Add to these a city of five thousand in- habitants, and numerous thriving villages, with extensive manufactur- ing interests, and the result is a work of which all concerned may well be proud.

The record of this marvelous change is history, and the most important that can be written. For thirty years the people of Mecosta County have been making a history that for thrilling

interest, grand practical results, and lessons that may be perused with profit by citizens of other regions, will compare favorably with the narrative of the his- tory of any county in the great Northwest; and con- sidering the extent of territory involved, it is as worthy of the pen of a Bancroft as even the story of our glorious Republic.

While our venerable ancestors may have said and believed,

"No pent-up Utica contracts our powers, For the whole boundless continent i- our -. "

they were nevertheless for a long time content to oc- cupy and possess a very small corner of it; and the great West was not opened to industry and civiliza- tion until a variety of causes had combined to form as it were a great heart, whose animating principle was improvement, whose impulses annually sent west- ward armies of noble men and women and whose pulse is now felt throughout the length and breadth of the best country the sun ever shone upon,-from the rocky coasts of Maine to the vineyards of California, and from the sugar-canes of Louisiana to the wheat- fields of Minnesota. Long may this heart beat and push forward its arteries and veins of commerce !

Not more from choice than from enforced neces- sity, did the old pioneers bid farewell to the play- grounds of their childhood and the graves of their

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fathers. One generation after another had worn themselves out in the service of their avaricious landlords. From the first flashes of daylight in the morning until the last glimmer of the setting sun, they had toiled unceasingly on, from father to son, carrying home each day upon their aching shoulders the precious proceeds of their daily labor. Money and pride and power were handed down in the line of succession from the rich father to his son, while un- ceasing work and continuous poverty and everlasting obscurity were the heritage of the working man and his children.

Their society was graded and degraded. It was not manners, nor industry, nor education, nor quali. ties of the head and heart that established the grade. It was money and jewels, and silk and satin, and broadcloth and imperious pride, that triumphed over honest poverty and trampled the poor man and his children under the iron heel. The children of the rich and poor were not permitted to mingle with and to love each other. Courtship was more the work of the parents than of the sons and daughters. The golden calf was the key to matrimony. To perpetuate a self-constituted aristocracy, without power of brain, or the rich blood of royalty, purse was united to purse, and cousin with cousin, in bonds of matrimony, until the virus boiling in their blood was transmitted by the law of inheritance from one generation to another, and until nerves powerless and manhood dwarfed were on exhibition every- where, and everywhere abhorred. For the sons and daughters of the poor man to remain there was to forever follow as our fathers had followed and never lead; to submit, but never to rule; to obey, but never to command.

Without money, or prestige, or influential friends, the old pioneers drifted along one by one, from State to State, until in Michigan-the garden of the Union-they have found inviting homes for each, and room for all. To secure and adorn these homes more than ordinary ambition was required, greater than ordinary endurance demanded, and unflinching determination was, by the force of necessity, written over every brow. It was not pomp, or parade, or glittering slow, that the pioneers were after. They

sought for homes which they could call their own,- homes for themselves and homes for their children. How well they have succeeded after a struggle of many years against the adverse tides, let the records

and tax-gatherers testify; let the broad cultivated fields and fruit-bearing orchards, the flocks and the herds, the palatial residences, the places of business, the spacious halls, the clattering car wheels and pon- derous engines all testify.

There was a time when pioneers waded through deep snows, across bridgeless rivers, and through bottomless sloughs, a score of miles to mill or market, and when more time was required to reach and re- turn from market than is now required to cross the continent, or traverse the Atlantic. These were the times when our palaces were constructed of logs and covered with "shakes" riven from the forest trees. These were the times when our children were stowed away for the night in the low, dark attics, amongst the horns of the elk and the deer, and where through the chinks in the "shakes" they could count the twinkling stars. These were the times when our chairs and our bedsteads were hewn from the forest trees, and tables and bureaus constructed from the boxes in which their goods were brought. These were the times when the workingman worked six and some- times seven days in the week, and all the hours there were in a day from sunrise to sunset.

Whether all succeeded in what they undertook is not a question to be asked now. The proof that as a body they did succeed is all around us. Many indi- viduals were perhaps disappointed. Fortunes and misfortunes belong to the human race. Not every man can have a school-house on the corner of his farm; not every man can have a bridge over a stream that flows by his dwelling; not every man can have a railroad depot on the borders of his plantation, or a city in its center; and while these things are desirable in some respects, their advantages are oftentimes out- weighed by the almost perpetual presence of the for- eign beggar, the dreaded tramp, the fear of fire and conflagration, and the insecurity from the presence of the midnight burglar, and the bold bad men and women who lurk in ambush and infest the villages. The good things of this earth are not all to be found in any one place ; but if more is to be found in any one place than another, that place is in our rural re- treats,-our quiet homes outside of the clamor and turmoil of city life.

In viewing the blessings which surround us, then, we should reverence those who have made them pos- sible, and ever fondly cherish in memory the sturdy old PIONEER and his LOG CABIN.

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Let us turn our eyes and thoughts back to the log- cabin days of a quarter of a century ago, and con- trast those homes with the comfortable dwellings of to-day. Before us stands the old log cabin. Let us enter. Instinctively the head is uncovered in token of reverence to this relie of ancestral beginnings, early struggles and final triumphs. To the left is the deep, wide fire-place, in whose commodious space a group of children may sit by the fire and up through the chimney may count the stars, while ghostly sto- ries of witches and giants, and still more thrilling stories of Indians and wild beasts, are whisperingly told and shudderingly heard. On the great crane hang the old tea-kettle and the great iron pot. The huge shovel and tongs stand sentinel in either corner, while the great andirons patiently wait for the huge back log. Over the fire-place hangs the trusty rifle. To the right of the fire-place stands the spinning- wheel, while in the further end of the room is seen the old fashioned loom. Strings of drying apples and poles of drying pumpkins are overhead. Oppo- site the door in which you enter stands a huge deal table, by its side the dresser whose " pewter plates " and " shining delf" catch and reflect the fire-place flames as shields of armies do the sunshine. From the corner of its shelves coyly peep out the relics of former china. In a curtained corner and hid from casual sight we find the mother's bed, and under it the trundle-bed, while near them a ladder indicates the loft where the older children sleep. To the left of the fire-place and in the corner opposite the spin- ning-wheel is the mother's work-stand. Upon it lies the Bible, evidently much used, its family record tell- ing of parents and friends a long way off, and telling, too, of children

" Scattered like roses in bloom. Some at the bridal, and some at the tomb."

Her spectacles, as if but just used, are inserted be- tween the leaves of her Bible, and tell of her purpose to return to its comforts when cares permit and duty is done. A stool, a bench, well notched and whit- tled and carved, and a few chairs complete the fur- niture of the room, and all stand on a coarse but well-scoured flour. Let us for a moment watch the city visitors to this humble cabin. The city bride, innocent but thoughtless, and ignorant of labor and care, asks her city-bred husband, " Pray, what say- ages set this up?" Honestly confessing his ignorance,

he replies, "I do not know." But see the pair on whom age sits "frosty but kindly." First, as they enter, they give a rapid glance about the cabin home, and then a mutual glance of eye to eye. Why do tears start and fill their eyes? Why do lips quiver? There are many who know why; but who that has not learned in the school of experience the full meaning of all these symbols of trials and privations, of loneliness and danger, can comprehend the story 'that they tell to the pioneer? Within this chinked and mud-daubed cabin, we read the first pages of our history; and as we retire through its low door-way, and note the heavy hattened door, its wooden hinges and its welcoming latch-string, is it strange that the scenes without should seem to be but a dream? But the cabin and the palace, standing side by side in vivid contrast, tell their own story of this people's progress. They are a history and a prophecy in one.

VALUE OF LOCAL HISTORY.

8 EFORE proceeding with the narrative of the development of Mecosta County, it may not be inappropriate to refer to the value of local history. It is the duty of the present to commemorate the past, to perpetu- ate the names of the pioneers, to furnish a record of their early settlement, and to relate the story of their progress. The civilization of our day, the enlightenment of the age, and this solemn duty which men of the present time owe to their ancestors, to themselves and to their posterity, demand that a record of their lives and deeds should be made. In local history is found a power to instruct man by prec- edent, to enliven the mental faculties, and to waft down the river of time a safe vessel in which the names and actions of the people who contributed to raise this region from its primitive state may be pre- served.

Surely and rapidly the noble men who in their prime entered the wild forests of America and claimed the virgin soil as their heritage, are passing to their graves. The number remaining who can relate the history of the first days of settlement is becoming small indeed, so that an actual necessity exists for

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the collection and preservation of historical matter without delay, before the settlers of the wilderness are cut down by time. Not only is it of the greatest importance to render history of pioneer times full and accurate, but it is also essential that the history of the county, from its settlement to the present day, should be treated through its various phases, so that a record, complete and impartial, may be handed down to the future. If this information is not now collected and compiled in historical form, the genera- tions of the future will be called upon to expend

large sums of money in research and exploration' The present, the age of progress, is reviewed, standing out in bold relief over the quiet, unostentatious olden times; it is a brilliant record, which is destined to live in the future ; the good works of men, their mag- nificent enterprises, their lives, whether commercial or military, do not sink into oblivion; but, on the contrary, grow brighter with age, and contribute to build up a record which carries with it precedents and principles that will be advanced and observed when the acts of soulless men will be forgotten, and their very names hidden in the grave.

PHYSICAL FEATURES.

GEOGRAPHICAL AND TOPOGRAPHICAL.

HE county of Mecosta is a model county in point of size, shape and divisions. It is an exact square, composed of 16 Congressional townships, four on each side. These coincide with the 16 civil townships which have been organized within the county, with two excep- tions. In the case of Grant and Green Townships, owing to the interference of the Muskegon River, about two sections naturally belonging to Grant are attached to Green. Each Congressional township contains 23,040 acres, and the county accordingly contains 368,640 acres " more or less." Of this area there are but 30,000 acres under cultivation, com- prised in 1,200 farms. From this significant fact one may form some idea of the future possibilities of Me- costa as an agricultural county.

The 16 Congressional townships are designated in the Government survey as townships 13, 14, 15 and 16 north, ranges 7, 8, 9 and ro west. The county lies a little west of the center of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, and is bounded on the north by Osceola County, on the east by Isabella, on the south by

Montcalm, and on the west by Newaygo County. The Muskegon River flows through the western tier of townships, and the Little Muskegon River, rising in the eastern part of the county, flows in a south- westerly direction, emptying into the Muskegon just outside of Mecosta county, thence into Lake Michi- gan. The Chippewa River rises in the northeast part of the county, and, flowing southeast and then east, empties into the Tittabawassee River, thence into the Saginaw River and Saginaw Bay. Numerous little streams throughout the county afford ample drainage and plenty of living water. A number of lakes, from one acre to 800 acres in extent, are situ- ated in the east and north part of the county. These lakes, and smaller water-courses are described more fully in connection with the respective townships.

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Portrait and biographical album, Mecosta county, Mich., containing portraits and biographical sketches, Part 59

Author: Chapman Brothers Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago, Chapman brothers Number of Pages: 684

Author: Chapman Brothers
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago, Chapman brothers
Number of Pages: 684