USA > Michigan > Newaygo County > Portrait and biographical album of Newaygo County, Michigan : containing portraits and biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county also containing a complete history of the county, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 40
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haniel J. Whipple, farmer, section 18, Bar- ton Township, was born in Allegany Co., N. Y., June 9, 1841, and is a son of Will- iam and Sarah (Thompson) Whipple. When he was eight years old, Mr. Whipple began the work of maintaining himself. He availed him- self of all work suited to his years, and when old enough engaged as a stage-driver, and afterwards worked in a livery stable. When he was 14 years old he made an engagement with Dan Rice, the cel- ebrated showman, with whom he traveled eight years as a clown. In 1862 he enlisted in the 13th Reg. N. Y. Vol. Inf., and served in the war for the Union three years and eleven months. After receiving his discharge he came to Michigan and entered a claim of 80 acres of land under the provisions of the Homestead Act, on which he has since resided.
He was married in 1867 to Eliza A., daughter of Benjamin and Phebe Ann (Heirs) Meades, natives of New York, where she was also born, Dec. 30, 1846. The family includes four children, viz .: Jennie R., Benjamin A., Daniel J. and Phebe A. Ettie is de- ceased.
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oseph Tannewitz, Jr., farmer, section 32, Croton Township, was born in Bohemia, Austria, April 3, 1824, and is the son of Joseph and Mary (Plumerich) Tannewitz. The father was of the same nationality and was born in 1795. The mother was born in Bohemia in 1799, and died there in 1879.
Mr. Tannewitz was primarily educated according to the legal provisions of his native land, and at the age of 13 years was apprenticed three years to fit himself for the trade of a weaver. After perfecting himself in its details he followed the custom of his
country in finding employ in various continental cities, until he came to the United States in 1849. He came to Grand Rapids in September of that year, and worked one season in a woolen factory. He found that some other calling would be of more advantage to a man in his circumstances, and he turned his attention to blacksmithing, which he has followed at intervals ever since, but closed his shop for regular work about 12 years ago. In 1853 he came to Newaygo County. The first winter he spent in the employ of George Utley, and has worked since with industry and prudence, until he has made sufficient accumulations to take leading rank among the farmers of Newaygo County. In 1878 he bought 214 acres of land under some degree of improve- ments, to which he has added materially. He is a Democrat in politics and a Roman Catholic in re- ligion.
Mr. Tannewitz was married in Grand Rapids, in 1852, to Wilhelmina Lytle, a native of Bohemia, born March 19, 1830. Five of their six children are living, namely: Joseph, Edward, Adolph, William H. and Annie. Frank is deceased.
@ enjamin Rogers, farmer and lumberman, section 5, Big Prairie Township (13, 11). pero was born in Anson, Maine, May 11, 1820. His parents, Robert and Betsey (Hodges) Rogers, were both natives of Maine, of English origin. The former was born about 1785 and died in 1861; the latter was born in 1788 and died in 1823.
The death of the mother broke up the household, and Mr. Rogers, then three years old, was taken in charge by his sister Betsy, the wife of George W. Gordon, a lumberman, with whom he resided until 18.37. Mr. Gordon came to Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1834. In 1848 Mr. Rogers embarked in the lumber business at Grand Rapids, in which he has since been engaged. He came to Newaygo County March 20, 1853, and bought 80 acres of land in Big Prairie Township. He pursued lumbering ten years before he erected his dwelling and became a perma- nent resident on his real estate, where he has since made good improvements.
Mr. Rogers was married at Grand Rapids, in 1837,
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to Betsey Maria Reynolds. One child, Robert, was born to them April 7, 1850, on the Grand River, about two miles above Fruitport. He is now living in Big Prairie (see sketch). The mother fell into ill health, and Mr. Rogers went to Stevens Point, Wis., with the hope and belief that his wife would be restored; but she died after five months. The expenses of removal, sickness and death exhausted the means of the husband, and he remained in Wis- consin until he had earned sufficient to discharge his in- debtedness and bring her remains back with him, which he did in about two years, and buried her near Grand Rapids. He placed his child in the care of his ma- ternal grandmother.
Mary Jane (Miller) Rogers, his present wife, was born in Grass Lake, Jackson Co., Mich., Aug. 10, 1835. She is a daughter of John and Minerva (Parsons) Miller, the former born of Irish parents in Vermont, the latter of English extraction, born in New York. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers were married July 16, 1854, and are the parents of five children : Betsey M., Benjamin F., John A., Steven A. and Walter.
Mr. Rogers is a subscriber to the tenets of the Democratic party.
illiam Graham, insurance agent at Ne- waygo, was born in Perry Tp., Geauga Co., Ohio, March 13, 1830, and is a son of Joseph T. and Elizabeth (Winnegar) Gra- ham. The father was the son of a Scotch sea captain, who spent more than half a cen- tury of "life on the ocean wave;" was a hatter by calling, and died at Sturgis, Mich., in 1868, aged 66 years. The mother was of German ancestry, born in Pennsylvania in 1818 and died at Sturgis in 1874. The parents settled at the place where they passed the remainder of their lives in Jan- uary, 1834, locating at Sturgis Prairie, a short dis- tance southeast of the present site of the village of that name. The father entered a claim of 160 acres of Government land, which was all in timber and remote from neighbors. The family were among the very earliest settlers and made the journey to their new home in a wagon loaded with their effects, bringing with them one cow. A temporary log cabin was constructed for a residence. It had three sides
and a roof. It being midwinter, no chimney could be built : one end of the structure was left open and a heap of logs was kept burning all winter which so modified the cold that existence was possible.
In 1856 Mr. Graham of this sketch left home and went to Minnesota in the employ of the Government of the United States, locating mail routes. He was thus occupied three years and returned to Sturgis, where he operated as a millwright in the interests of John Armstrong & Co., for whom he erected 17 mills in different States. He was married Aug. 16, 1855, to Amanda M., daughter of John Cutler, who was born in Massachusetts, Feb. 12, 1830. Their elder child. Frank, born at Sturgis in 1856, is now a practic- ing physician and surgeon at Sand Lake, Kent County. Mary, younger child, is the wife of Dr. E. J. Pendell, of Newaygo.
In 1864, associated with his father, who joined in the enterprise in the hope of renewing his impaired health, he took a trip to Omaha and there they fitted up a provision train of 12 loaded wagons and pro- ceeded to Virginia City, Montana. They went thence to Salt Lake City, where they re-stocked their train and retraced their route to Virginia City, where they sold their entire outfit, bought four mule teams and returned East with their wagons filled with passengers. Mr. Graham enlisted at Memphis in the fall of 1864 in the Sixth Tennessee Cavalry, remaining in the ser- vice until Sept., 1865. The regiment was detailed to operate against the guerrilla chief, Gen. Forrest, and other raiding rebel forces, which involved its men in skirmishes without number and kept them in action with little intermission.
Mr. Graham's family resided at Sturgis until 1870, when they removed to Lockwood, Kent County. Here Mr. Graham was one of the founders of the village. He built the first saw-mill, and as accessory a side-track to the Grand Rapids & Indiana railroad, and established extensive lumber interests, which he continued to conduct at that point until 1873. In the spring of 1877 Mr. Graham and one of his sons embarked in the grocery business at Kent City and continued there in trade about two years, when the business was terminated on account of the impaired health of the son ; and the entire family came, in the spring of 1879, to Grant Tp., Newaygo County, where the father took charge of the saw, shingle and stave mill of H. S. Watrous. This enterprise continued
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until June, 1881, when Mr. Graham removed his in- terests to Newaygo and engaged in the manufacture of clothes-reels. Nine months later he established his business as agent for the State of Michigan in the interests of the Odd Fellows' Mutual Association, or " Covenant Mutual." He has been a member of the order 30 years.
ohn R. Carpenter, one of the pioneers of Michigan, was born in Tioga Co., N. Y., April 30, 1807, and is the son of Samuel and Mary Carpenter. The family removed from Tioga County to Genesee County ; and in 1828 they removed to Lenawee Co., Mich. In the spring of 1860, Mr. Carpenter came with part of his family to Newaygo County, and entered 160 acres on section 31, Dayton Township. He has disposed of 120 acres, and now owns 40, of which about 20 are under cultivation.
Sept. 4, 1830, he was married in Lenawee County to Amanda Bassett, a native of New York State. This couple have been the parents of 13 children, six of whom survive, and with three of their children they reside on the old homestead.
ames Duffy, farmer, section 20, Barton Township, was born June 22, 1839, in Coburg, Ontario. His father, Michael Duffy, was born in Ireland, of Irish parentage. His mother, Catherine (Tracy) Duffy, de- scended from English ancestors. The parents emigrated to Canada in 1834, and the father bought a farm in Coburg, where the family resided several years ; they went thence to Rochester, N. Y. The father died there in 1878. The mother died at Ba- tavia, N. Y., in 1865.
In the fall of 1864 Mr. Duffy went from the State of New York to Pennsylvania, where he spent the following winter. In the spring of 1865 he bought a farm in Ionia Co., Mich., which he retained until 1866, sold out and transferred his interests to Kent County, where he remained a year, coming thence to Newaygo County. He immediately entered a claim
of 80 acres of land under the privileges of the Homestead Act, whereon he has since resided. In political attitude, Mr. Duffy is nominally neutral so far as party issue is concerned. His inclinations tend toward the principles of the Greenback party, but his suffrage is governed by his views of the fit- ness of the candidate. He is respected and trusted by his townsmen, and has served them as Supervisor for the past three years; is still the incumbent of the position ; has been Highway Commissioner eight years and School Inspector three years.
He was married in 1863, to Mary, daughter of Stephen Shepherd, born Nov. 30, 1844, in Vermont of which State her parents were natives. Mrs. Duffy died March 27, 1883, leaving five children, born in the following order: George E., March 7, 1864, Edson J., June 18, 1867; Cora A., Sept. 15, 1872 ; Ernest H., Feb. 7, 1874, and Mabel, March 18, 1883.
esse R. Green, farmer, section 24, Good- well Township, was born Jan. 18, 1818, in Licking Co., Ohio. His father, Nathaniel Green, was a native of Massachusetts and died in Missouri in 1862, aged about 75 years. His lineage is directly traceable to that of General Greene of Revolutionary fame. Mehitable (Roe) Green, his mother, was born in 1787, in the Bay State, and died in 1843, in Ohio.
Mr. Green spent the years of his minority in active labor, preparing for a life of effort. He worked sum- mers on the farm, went to school winters, and when he had reached the age of 20 years was a practical farmer, carpenter and shoemaker. The year before he attained his majority, he entered the river service as a flatboatman. He was married in 1839, and on becoming a family man settled upon a farm of 80 acres, where he pursued agriculture until 1869, then sold his property and removed all his interests to Me- costa Co., Mich. Eighteen months later he entered a homestead claim of 80 acres in Goodwell Town- ship, Newaygo County, where he has since resided. He has cleared 12 acres and placed it under fair cultivation.
In political adherence Mr. Green is a Democrat, and has held a number of the local offices of his township.
Mr. Green was married in 1839, in Ohio, to Lydia
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Nash. She was born Nov. 25, 1821, in Athens Co., Ohio. Her parents, Azor and Mary (Linscott) Nash, were natives respectively of New York and Maine, and were both of English lineage. The former was born in 1773, and died in Ohio, in 1857; the latter died in Mecosta County in 1869, aged 83 years. Following is the record of 12 children born to Mr. and Mrs. Green : Hannah E., Sarah J. (dec.), David L. (dec.), Robert L. S. (dec.), Mary M., Amanda M., William J., Reuben E., Ruth S. (dec.), Jesse S. (dec.), John L. and Nathaniel M. (dec.).
Mr. Green died Jan. 4, 1884, after the above notes were prepared for publication. He was ill but two days. Stricken down in strong, active manhood, his sufferings were proportionately severe, but he died in the calmness and trust attendant upon the close of a well ordered life, retaining his mental faculties un- clouded until death. He had been a consistent member of the Disciples' Church nearly 40 years.
ames C. Townsend, of the firm of Town- send and Gannon, grocers and butchers at White Cloud, was born Jan, 26, 1845, in England, of which country his parents were natives. He is the son of John and Elizabeth (Brooks) Townsend, and they are still living here.
Mr. Townsend left his native country in the spring of 1874; arriving in America, he first located in Kansas. Three months afterward he decided to prospect for a while, and he spent a year in travel, after which he located in Shelby, Oceana Co., Mich., and engaged in selling meat. He disposed of his business a little less than two years later and removed to Fremont, where he pursued the same calling for five years. He again disposed of his business inter- ests, and in the fall of 1881 came to White Cloud and entered into his present business relations with Richard Gannon, with whom he is engaged in the prosecution of a lucrative trade.
Mr. Townsend was married in Hart, Oceana County, Aug. 25, 1878, to Henrietta, daughter of William and Mary Jane Mills. She is a native of Canada. Two children are the issue of this mar-
riage, viz. : Beatrice, born Oct. 8, 1879, and Eliza- beth J., Jan. 16, 1883. Mr. Townsend belongs to the Knights of Honor, Tremont Lodge, No. 741.
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dwin O. Shaw, Postmaster at Newaygo, and editor and proprietor of the Newaygo Republican, was born at Edwardsburg, Cass Co., Mich., July 21, 1846. His father, Ezekiel Shaw, was born in 1829, in the State of New York, and died in 1854, at Edwards- burg. His mother, Sarah A. (Carmichael) Shaw, was born in 1826, in Virginia, and is still living, at Ed- wardsburg.
Mr. Shaw obtained his elementary education at the common schools, and when 13 years old began to learn the printer's art, which he pursued with little intermission at various places. In July, 1867, he located at Stanton, Montcalm Co., Mich., where he initiated his career as an independent journalist by establishing the Montcalm Herald, the first issue of which appeared Sept. 16 of the same year. Fourteen months later he sold out to E. R. Powell, who still continues the publication of the paper. Mr. Shaw's enterprise had been a success, and, on the disposal of his journalistic interests at Stanton, he selected Newaygo as a suitable field for further effort in the same line, and purchased the Newaygo Re- publican, then owned and edited by E. L. Gray. James H. Maze, now of Grand Rapids, was the founder of the paper, and put it in permanent work- ing order in 1856. The enterprise has been man- aged continuously by Mr. Shaw since his purchase. It was then in a languishing condition, and had a limited circulation ; but by persistent energy and un- remitting effort to place it upon a basis suitable to the requirements of its patrons, he has made it a decided success and permanent fixture at Newaygo, and it now has a circulation of 1,100. It was issued by its first proprietors as a seven-column folio, but later he changed it to a six-column quarto. In 1878 Mr. Shaw added a Potter cylinder printing press to his facilities, and in 1882 put in steam power, and justly claims the proprietorship of one of the best equipped job printing-offices in Northern Michigan.
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With Respect yours Frationally Dr. James Helsin
Faithfully yours Monis Villie Palmer Webster
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In April, 1877, he admitted his brother, Wm. A. Shaw, to a partnership.
Mr. Shaw was appointed Postmaster May 11, 187 1, by John A. J. Creswell, Postmaster-General under Grant, and has since continued to discharge the duties of the position to the satisfaction of the peo- ple whom he serves.
He has been intimately connected with the munic- ipal interests of Newaygo since he joined its citizen- ship. He has been President of the village one year, and is one of the present Board of Trustees. He was Supervisor of Garfield Township one year ; Treasurer of Brooks Township one year; County Superintendent of the Poor three years, and is at present School Director and Trustee, and has filled the two latter offices several years. He has been identified with the political interests of the county, and has served as Chairman of the Republican County Committee and as a member of the State Central Committee from the Ninth Congressional District; has been Delegate to a number of State Conventions. The prominence and activity of Mr. Shaw in general politics is well understood, and he is among the leaders of the Republican ranks in the county. His straightforward, independent, reliable character inspires the masses with confidence in the integrity of his purposes, the correctness of his judg- ment, and is an indorsement of the issues he sup- ports with his influence, both personal and jour- nalistic.
Mr. Shaw was married Feb. 20, 1877, to Lottie E., daughter of Dr. E. H. G. and Elizabeth Meachem. She was born in New York, Aug. 2, 1852.
r. James Webster, physician and surgeon, resident on section 21, Big Prairie Town- ship, was born in Darlington, Brock District, Ontario, Aug. 31, 1843, and is a son of William Rila and Phebe Ann (Moore) Web- ster. (See sketch.)
He was about II years of age when his parents settled in the township of Big Prairie. While a boy he was a diligent scholar in the common schools of the Dominion, and after removing to Michigan re- sumed his studies as soon as convenient schools
were established. He also attended one term at Croton, and went to the academy at Newaygo six months. These periods of study, strengthened and improved by methodical home reading, arranged with a view of eventually obtaining a medical edu- cation, comprised his preparatory course ; and about the time of his majority, believing with Cicero, " that in no way can man so nearly approach the immortal gods as by conferring benefits upon suffering human- ity," he went to Oxford Co., Ont., and entered into an engagement with Dr. William Springer, with whom he read medicine two years. His preceptor was Coroner of Oxford County, a position which, under the regulations of the Dominion, substantiates the grade of the incumbent in his profession. While there, though surrounded by much that was well calculated to mislead, his habits of sobriety, truth- fulness and application to study and suave manners, commanded general esteem and endeared him to all who knew him. He returned to Michigan, and after a short stay at home went to Chicago and thence westward. While absent he acted four months as a clerk. On his return to the Peninsular State he went to Ottawa, where he remained for a time; then he came to Newaygo County, where he pursued agriculture until the winter of 1866-7, when he went to Chicago and attended a course of lectures at the Hahnemann Medical College and Hospital. In the spring following he entered upon the practice of his profession in Wayland, Allegan County and remained there 14 months. After his return to Northern Michigan he was principally engaged in medical practice until the summer of 1875, when he removed with his family to Grand Rapids and there continued the duties of his profes- sion, being associated with his brother-in-law, Dr. Wm. H. H. Palmer, a gentleman of skill and attain- ments and enjoying an extended practice. Toward the close of the year 1876, he returned to Big Prairie and continued to prosecute his profession.
In July, 1872, Dr. Webster visited Lansing, being called there to take part in the deliberations of a convention of medical men convened to lay plans and transact business of vital importance to the profession throughout the State. In 1873 he was admitted to the Newaygo County Medical Associa- tion, and in 1880 was made a member of the Northern Medical Society .. In 1882 he was elected to the office of Coroner of Newaygo
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County by the combined votes of the Prohi- bition and National Greenback Labor parties, of both which Dr. Webster is a zealous adherent. He is also a member of three social and benevolent or- ganizations, of which he deems Masonry the queen. Though not a declared adherent of any religious denomination, he acknowledges their worth, and would, doubtless, prefer the Methodists.
Dr. Webster possesses exceptionally fine literary tastes and an intellect of a high order of culture. He has read extensively and always with correct judgment, selecting a course of reading calculated to properly discipline and train his mind, cultivate his memory and give logical direction to his thoughts. He is a good conversationalist, is able to discriminate between the "speech that is silvern and the silence that is golden," and always displays his respect and veneration for the opinions and expressions of acknowledged authorities by quoting freely and aptly from their works. He has a wide acquaintance with history, is strong in argument and is able to clothe his ideas in concentrated, well-chosen language. He is familiar with classic poetry and the standard poets and authors of the day, has a well selected library, and writes both poetry and prose of more than ordi- nary merit. He possesses a keen sense of the ab- surd, and occasionally contributes humorous articles to the newspapers. He has also a correct and cul- tivated taste in music, for works of art, and believes, with Grimke, " that the Bible is the best of classics.'
As appropriate to the character, views and tastes of Dr. Webster, the following quotation is given :
"I live for those who love me, For those who think mne true, For the heaven that smiles above me. And for the good that I can do."
In his medical practice the forte of Dr. Webster is his faculty to establish confidence in his ability to aid, and he is favorably known as a diagnostician, or reader of disease. He regards his calling as involv- ing his conscience, and making it incumbent on him to exert every mental and physical power to respond to the calls incident to his business, and to strive to the utmost to arrest disease, alleviate suffering and save human life. He believes that all branches of science are progressive, and that a beneficent Provi- dence has ordered as much change in the healing art as in agriculture or modes of traveling, since the
days of Galen or Celsus. He believes that too much is expected of crude and powerful drugs, and that the mild power subdues and assists the tendency to repel disease, which the human system makes known through symptoms. He is unalterably opposed to old-fashioned stews, brews and decoctions, and to making a filthy laboratory of the human stomach, where disgusting compounds hold their high carnival of destruction.
Coming to this county as he did, when wild ani- mals abounded, Dr. Webster very early acquired a knowledge of fire-arms and of hunting and trapping. Of the latter he grew passionately fond, and for several years made it a source of sport as well as profit. He was known as a "dead shot," and records himself as having been "in at the death" of 350 deer, besides smaller game and birds, which latter he was remarkably successful in shooting on the wing.
Dr. Webster was married Feb. 14, 1861, in Grand Rapids, to Villie P. Palmer. She was born in the township of Van Buren, in Wayne Co., Mich., May 7, 1844, and is a daughter of George W. and Fla- villa (Whitaker) Palmer. The former was born June 28, 1807, in New York. The latter was born May 5, 1805, in Springfield, Mass. Of five children born to Dr. and Mrs. Webster, the eldest and youngest are deceased. Their names are given in the order of their birth: James Frederick William, Phebe Inez Erminine, Clarence A. G., Evelina M. and Emily Ethel. The following lines, inscribed by Dr. Webster in the album of his only living son, ex- hibit his poetical genius as well as manifest his paternal sentiment :
God give thee health and peace and joy ! God keep and strengthen thee from sin! And give thee grace to enter in The city of His rest, my boy!
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