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 43
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Mr. Raider has had little affinity for politics, though he has been the incumbent of several local official positions. He was a Presidential Elector on the Prohibition ticket of 1872, and is an able advo- cate of the interests of the temperance cause. He is a member of the Masonic Order, and an attend- ant at the M. E. Church, though he belonged to the Lutheran Church in his native country.
In 1859 Mr. Raider organized a saving's bank, which he kept in operation until 1871, when he closed its affairs on account of the taxes imposed by the Government.
He was married Aug. 10, 1848, to Lucinda Jack . son, born at Barcelona, Chautauqua Co., N. Y. Eight children were born of this marriage, as fol- lows: Leonora (deceased), May 25, 1849, at Mina, N. Y .; George, July 13, 1851, and Kate, Dec. 10, 1853, in Hinckley, Ohio; Frederick, Sept. 4, 1855, at Columbus, Pa .; Charles, March 24, 1858 (died Sept. 26, 1859); Jessie, Jan. 8, 1863; Edgar, Aug. 16, 1865. The wife and mother died Feb. 5, 1866. Mr. Raider was a second time married Feb. 18, 1867, to Rinda M. Glazier, of Jackson Co., Mich., born Dec. 7, 1834. One child, Lynn A., was born Jan. 4, 1875. The four younger children were born at Newaygo.
christian Pfeifle, merchant at Ashland City, was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, July 24, 1844, and is a son of Michael and Agnes (Fry) Pfeifle, who were also natives of the same State and are still residing there. The son was educated in his native country, and at the age of 15 was apprenticed to learn the trade of miller, in which he became very proficient under the practical, rigorous instructions commonly bestowed upon apprentices in the European countries, which are noted for the efficiency of their craftsmen.
Mr. Pfeifle emigrated to the United States in the fall of 1871 and located in Mount Joy, Lancaster Co., Pa., where he found employment as a miller in
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one of the flouring establishments of that place. The next summer he went to Peekskill on the Hud- son, and engaged in a woolen mill for a time, return- ing to the Key-stone State and obtaining employ- ment in the coal mines of Luzerne County, where he operated 18 months. In the fall of 1873 he came to Michigan and engaged in the mills at Muskegon, until October, 1877, when he came to Ashland City and founded a mercantile business on a small scale. His cash capital was $63. The absurdly diminutive character of his enterprise, its seeming presumption and the apparent inexperience of the proprietor, precipitated upon him numberless perplexities ; but his inherent equanimity and native self-control, coupled with "grit and tact," aided him in overcom- ing all obstacles, and he has now a business the annual transactions of which amount to $40,000. It includes a shingle trade, in addition to other lines. In 1874 he was appointed Postmaster, and has con- tinued to manage the business pertaining to.the posi- tion with entire satisfaction to those most intimately concerned.
Mr. Pfeifle is a zealous Republican and an influ- ential citizen. His wide-spread repute for integrity has been a better foundation for his business con- nections than any amount of capital could have been, and he affords one of the best possible in- stances of the worth and weight of honesty and uprightness.
ohn V. Crandall, proprietor of the "Pleas- ant Valley Farm," located on section 35, Ensley Township, was born in Cortland Co., N. Y., Oct. 27, 1831. His parents, Asa and Susan (Babcock) Crandall, were natives of New York and Massachusetts. After their marriage, they settled in the State of New York, and the father died in Cortland County. The mother came to Cass Co., Mich., after her husband's death, and died there, in 1861.
Mr. Crandall came to Michigan in the spring of 1856 and bought 120 acres of wild land in Ensley Township, where he has since carried on agriculture. The tract was situated 14 miles from civilization,
and he cut four miles of this road to his claim, and underwent all the privations and enjoyed all the satisfactions of pioneer experience. He built a log house and set himself sturdily to work clearing away the forest to make room for other improvements. He has added to his possessions by subsequent pur- chase until his farm aggregates 300 acres, in the counties of Kent and Newaygo. Of this, 210 acres are under cultivation. He has added farm buildings of a character suitable to the name by which his place is known, and arranged its appearance gener- ally in accordance therewith.
In political relations he is a member of the National Greenback party. He was a resident of Ensley Township at the time of its organization, and has been Justice of the Peace since the first year thereafter, with the exception of about five years. He has been Supervisor nine years and School Director 16 years. He belongs to Sand Lake Lodge, No. 240, I. O. O. F.
Mr. Crandall was married Nov. 10, 1852, in Schuyler Co., N. Y., to Mary V., daughter of Garrett and Lydia Clawson, both of whom were natives of that county. The Crandall household includes two children : Eugene E., born April 3, 1854; and Ida V., born July 12, 1857. Both remain at home. They are accomplished scholars and musicians. He is a teacher of music and is a fine artist in crayon and oil painting.
Mr. Crandall was cradled in poverty and ob- tained a modicum of education in the common schools before attaining his majority. The meager knowledge thus acquired was supplemented after reaching man's estate by attending the Peach Orchard Academy, in Schuyler Co., N. Y, which was located on the banks of Seneca Lake. He made rapid progress through persevering application, and graduated in 1852. He is a man of energy, and has done his township good service as a Supervisor. He has also made a good record as a Justice, and, although never regularly admitted to the Bar, has been engaged in the successful practice of law five years. He has been President of the Cedar Springs Agricultural and Horticultural Society during the last five years. Mr. C. has been heavily engaged in lumbering for 15 years. Himself and son, under the firm style of J. V. Crandall & Son, run a steam mill and are actively prosecuting the manufacture of lum-
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ber and shingles. During the past two years they have owned and managed a general mercantile establishment. Their working force varies from five to forty men, as their business requires.
illiam Barton, farmer, section 8, Garfield Township, was born in County Tyrone, Ireland, July 12, 1810. His parents, Wm. and Susan (Culton) Barton, were of Scotch- Irish parentage, and belonged to the Pres- byterian element of the North of Ireland. The family emigrated to America in 1824, locating at Quebec, where the mother died within a few hours after their arrival at that city. Shortly afterward they proceeded to Lyons, Wayne Co., N. Y., and five years later to Bloomfield, Oakland Co., Mich., where the father bought 80 acres of land, which he disposed of afterward and went to Otisco, Ionia Co., Mich., where he died, at the age of 72 years.
Mr. Barton accompanied his parents to Lyons and Bloomfield, and after a residence of five years at the latter place, went to Kensington, Oakland County, and there operated to some extent in land specula- tion, in which he was occupied four years. His next business venture was at New Haven, Huron Co., Ohio, where he passed one year engaged in the pur- chase and sale of horses, returning at the end of that time to Independence, Oakland County. He pur- chased a farm of 40 acres in that township, and was occupied seven years in its cultivation and improve- ment. In 1847 he went to Otisco, Ionia County, and engaged in farming there for a period of two years. He came to Newaygo County in 1849, and bought a large tract of pine and farming land in the township of Big Prairie, including more than 600 acres, chiefly prairie. He improved about 300 acres, constituting a remarkably fine farm, with a good residence, suit- able accessory buildings, orchards, etc. On this he resided until 1878, when he removed to his present location on section 8, Garfield Township, where he owns 86 acres of farming land, 40 acres of which are under a high order of cultivation. The farm fixtures are of a creditable character, and its products in fair proportion as to kind and quality with those of this part of Michigan.
Mr. Barton has served his generation in several official positions of greater or less importance. He was Treasurer of Big Prairie Township something like 20 years, Justice of the Peace eight years, and held numerous minoroffices. He was married in Lyons, Oak- land County, April 2, 1835, to Dotha, daughter of Robert and Mary French, born neal Saratoga Springs, N. Y., April 7, 1815. William, eldest child, born Oct. 21, 1837, at Independence, is an employee of the United States Government, operating as an attache' of the Treasury Department at Washington; James, born at Independence, April 12, 1846, is manager of the homestead farm. Mary, born at Independence in 1844, is the wife of Jacob Heisberger, of Kent County ; Melvin, born at Otisco, Nov. 16, 1852, is a farmer in Big Prairie; Frances, born in Big Prairie, is the wife of Nelson Taber, of Osceola County.
avid B. Collins, farmer and Inmberman, section 2 1, Croton Township, was born in Susquehanna Co., Pa., July 26, 1832. His father, Richard Collins, was born of German extraction, in 1804, in Vermont, and died in 1879. His mother, Fanny (Barney) Collins, was also descended from German parentage, and was born in New York in 1804, and died in 1837, in Pennsylvania.
At the age of 18 years Mr. Collins went to the city of New York and engaged as a saw-mill assist- ant, and there learned the art of sawing ship tim- ber. He followed that business three years and then went to New Haven, Conn., where he worked a year in a saw-mill. He spent six months at home in Pennsylvania, and in 1855 came to Croton Township, where he engaged some months as a lumberman, after which he began jobbing for himself, and was thus engaged when the war broke out.
In the month of July, 1862, Mr. Collins enlisted in Co. A, Sixth Mich. Cav., for three years. He was transferred to Co. L, same regiment, and promoted to the position of First Lieutenant. Through the campaign of the war in which his regiment partici- pated, he commanded two companies and received his discharge June 2, 1865, at Washington.
On coming from the war, Mr. Collins resumed his
Ting
David Collins
en & Bull
Esther Bull
.
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wonted occupations and has since passed alternate seasons in farming and lumbering. He is the pro- prietor of 420 acres of land in Newaygo County. His home farm includes 240 acres, and has 155 acres under advanced cultivation, with fine house, substantial barns and good orchard. He is a l'rohi- bitionist in political adherence, and in 1874 was elected Sheriff of Newaygo County for two years. He has also served four years on the Board of Supervisors.
Ann Eliza Cram, who became the wife of Mr. Col- lins in Cannonsburg, Mich., Oct. 8, 1857, was born in Canada West, Dec. 9, 1836. Her parents were William and Margaret (Hardy) Cram. Her father was descended from French ancestors and was born in June, 1800. He died in 1861. Her mother was born in 1808, in England, and is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Collins have had three children,-Lyman D. (dec.), Sadie L. and Ethel M.
Daniel Bull, farmer, section 34, Denver Township, was born in Bradford Co., Pa., March 30, 1826. His father, Thomas Bull, was a native of Orange Co., N. Y., and of English-French descent. His mother, Parthena (Goodwin) Bull, was a native of Penn- sylvania and of English extraction. During the lat- ter years of their life they resided in Pennsylvania, where they died at an advanced age.
Daniel learned to battle with the difficulties of life at a very early age, and when only 12 years old he went to live with one of his neighbors, giving his la- bor to pay for his board and clothes, and the privi- lege of attending school a part of the time. During the summer after he was 16 years of age he worked for $5 a month; the ensuing winter he boarded at the same place and went to school ; and during the next summer (1843) he worked at another place, for $6 a month. Continuing to make his home at the latter place, he went to school another winter. In both cases he paid for his own tuition by “ rate- bill." At 18 years of age he began to farm on shares. In this way he earned sufficient means to enable him to secure better educational advantages, which he improved a few years later.
In 1853, Mr. Bull left his native State to seek new fields of labor in the far West. He came first to Mackinaw Island, and afterward to Old Mission, Mich., on Grand Traverse Bay, then to Chicago, Ill., where he remained a short time, when he went to Decatur, Ill. Early in the spring of 1855 he visited his native home and friends, after which he returned to Michigan and located in Coldwater. Jan. 16, 1856, in Kent County, he was married to Miss Esther Dobson, a native of Ulster Co., N. Y., where she was born, May 31, 1812. She received her education in Pennsylvania, before coming to Michigan.
Oct. 15, 1855, previous to his marriage, Mr. Bull, then a young man of energy and perseverance, left the village of Coldwater to seek a home in the north- ern woods. Going directly to the Land Office at Ionia, he purchased 240 acres of land without see- ing it, trusting entirely to the recommendation of other men. Besides the Government graduation price, he, in company with his brother, paid an entire stranger $8 per lot for this land. They then came on to hunt up the land, having to follow "blazed " lines for eight miles through the woods. They crossed a wagon track near their land. They cut, carried and rolled up the logs, and " finished up " the second shanty in what is now the town of Denver. At that time his worldly possessions amounted to a little less than $100. Mr. B. worked at Newaygo to earn money to defray the expenses of moving his family. The snow showing signs of going off by the middle of March, 1857, thus destroying good sleighing, he started with his newly wedded wife and her niece, a young girl 11 years old, for their new home 150 miles distant through unbroken forests. His sleigh was heavily loaded, and on the evening of the third day the load upset, killing the young girl instantly, and making sad havoc with most of the goods. After a delay of one day they came on to Newaygo with the wreck of their load, and stopped to recruit, and when the snow melted away they moved into their shanty.
Mr. Bull is now one of the first farmers and fruit- growers in Newaygo County, having two fine orchards, each consisting of over 400 trees, all in fine bearing condition, and yielding an annual income of 100 to 2,000 bushels. He is in comfortable circumstances ; and his honesty and hospitality have endeared him to the hearts of the old pioneers with whom he has
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been so many years associated. Mr. B. was made the first Clerk of his township (the old town of Dayton). His political interests are with the Republican party. Mrs. B. is of a kind, congenial disposition, and dearly beloved by her friends and neighbors.
Mr. and Mrs. Bull have had no children, but have adopted and reared several. The following are the names and birth : Caroline Dobson, born March 18, 1845, died Jan. 15, 1856; Carry L. Crowfoot, born July 5, 1856, died Sept. 12, 1856; Edgar Smith, born March 7, 1852, married Addie Maynard; Ettie Smith, born Oct. 28, 1855, married David Robert- son; Charley W. Davison died in infancy; Sophia Bull, born Oct. 20, 1867; Frank Bull, born Oct. 4, 1871; Carrie E. Bull, born Nov. 11, 1875; the last three are now living with their adopted parents and attend the district school.
As truly representative pioneers and prominent and worthy people of Newaygo County, we take pleasure in presenting the portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Bull in this Album.
imothy Edwards, Circuit Court Commis- sioner of Newaygo County, residing on sec- tion 1, Ashland Township, was born April I, 1834, in Silverwell, county of Cornwall, England. His father, Edward Edwards, was the oldest child of his parents and was a Corn- ish miner. He held the technical position of "pit- man," whose duties include the management of the pumping and hoisting machinery pertaining to a col- liery. Philippa, nee Doney, his mother, descended from the old English yeomanry, who for successive generations occupied the same farm. The paternal grandparents were identified with the Wesleyan Methodist movement from its earliest workings in Cornwall. They had eight children, all of whom reached maturity and acquired comfortable positions.
Mr. Edwards early developed the characteristic traits of his nationality, and at the age of eleven years, being made to suffer unjustly at school for the guilt of another, he made such emphatic rebellion against the injustice and partiality of the established
authority that his father, understanding the probable mischief that would attend his being forced back to school, sent him to the mines, where he worked on the surface until he was fourteen years old. At that age he went to work underground in an adjoining colliery, and a year later was promoted to the post of "lump man," taking his turn in the management and oversight of the nether machinery. In 1850, in company with his father and an elder brother, he left his native country for America, to work under a contract in the Perkiomen Copper Mines, in Mont- gomery Co., Penn. A few months later he went to Silver Creek, near Pottsville, in Schuylkill County, where he spent a winter in the coal mines.
The employment proved distasteful ; and, overtures of an advanced position being made to him and his father from home, they returned to England in 1851, reaching there just at the opening of the first World's Fair at Hyde Park. He was occupied with mercan- tile matters from April, 1851, to September, 1852, when the Australian gold fever infected his ambition, and in company with a brother he started on the long passage via the Cape Good Hope. After a ship- wreck, which occurred within sight of the shore, the passengers landed, Jan. 1, 1853, at Port Philip Heads, the entrance of the bay whereon Melbourne, the Queen city of the island continent, is situated. The gold excitement was at its height, and Ballarat and Mount Alexander were but synonyms for the hopes of myriads. Mr. Edwards spent eighteen months in Australia, meeting encouraging success ; but when prosperity was at its maximum his brother was drowned. A premature powder blast had brought death to his eldest brother in Pennsylvania, and his mother's entreaties recalled him to England, where he arrived in July, 1854, visiting South America en route and spending a few days in the land of oranges and catamarans.
He had fed a mind of natural activity by constant study and a wide scope of general reading, and on reaching his native land several avenues opened to him; but the death of his brothers determined him on a life of quiet study, as his means were sufficient to warrant such a choice. After two years he became restive. The social inequalities and legal stringen- cies of England galled a mind which had reached a grade of understanding that rendered discrimination between middle-class brains and "blue-blooded" witlings a foregone conclusion ; and the privileges of
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America and the liberties of Colonial life rose before him in the guise of wonderful promise and beauty. He resolved on settling in the United States. A " noble " friend endeavored to detain him at home, promising distinguished advancement when the ad- ministration made its accustomed plunge and Earl Derby donned the ermine. He replied with a de- vout wish for the extinction rather than the advance- ment of the Tory element to power, and on the seventh of June, 1856, bade a final farewell to the land of his nativity.
He landed in New York just after the nomination of Fremont and Dayton, the slavery agitation absorb- ing every interest, and disruption of the National in- tegrity seeming imminent. Mr. Edwards took quick alarm at the condition of things and sought a retreat in Canada.
He was converted, soon after becoming a citizen of the Dominion, under the labors of Rev. Isaac Barber, with whom he at once entered upon a course of study for the ministry, and in January, 1857, he became a licensed local preacher. In June following, the Conference sent him to Ingersoll Circuit. He desired to enter upon a two-years course of study at Victoria College, but the privilege was denied by the Conference and he continued ministerial labor until 1859, when he was obliged by an accidental injury to suspend preaching.
In October, 1859, he was married to Hattie C. Batson, of Brantford, Ont., and passed the following four years in farming and teaching. The Emancipa- tion Proclamation freed the land of his desires from the " sum of all villainies," which his soul abhorred, and in November, 1863, he sold his property in Can- ada and came to Ionia, where he engaged in mercan- tile business, associated with Hampton Rich. In March, 1864, he was summoned by Presiding Elder H. Morgan to supply the Saranac Circuit, where he offi- ciated until the Michigan Conference, in September of that year, appointed him to Newaygo. He offici- ated two years, and during the time preached a thanks- giving sermon on the close of the war. In response to a call by the officials and prominent men of Ne- waygo County, he preached the funeral sermon of President Lincoln. His subsequent ministerial work was at Rockford, Kent County, St. Joseph, Berrien County, and at Pentwater, in Oceana County. He completed his career as a minister of the gospel at
the latter place, a disease of the throat consigning him to the ranks of secular life.
He went to Benton Harbor, where he bought a fruit farm and set out a large number of peach-trees. The "yellows," as fatal to that fruit as the plague to humanity, drove him from his project, and on New Year's Day, 1873, he came to Newaygo. In the spring following he was elected Justice of the Peace, and, on the resignation of John A. Brooks, Jr., was appointed Supervisor of Brooks. In the fall of the same year he bought the Powers farm, adjoining the village, but a betrayed trust and the shrinkage of values consequent upon the financial disasters of 1876 swept away the accumulations of his life. Messrs. Fuller & Standish, then of Grand Rapids, offered him the management of their branch office at Newaygo, with an opportunity of studying law. He accepted the proffered position, and by dint of strug- gle and perseverance he succeeded in passing his exam.nation, and was admitted to the Bar at the October term of 1878. He then opened an inde- pendent law office, and, in company with W. D. Ful- ler, edited and published the Newaygo Tribune until 1880, when failing health compelled his retiracy from public life and he resumed agricultural pursuits.
A Republican by choice and instinct, and still an adherent to the principles that called that party into being under the oaks at Jackson, he identified him- self with the National Greenback party in 1878 and labored thenceforward for its success He was nominated in 1882 for the post he now fills, and, though he expended his personal efforts and energies in the gubernatorial field, he was elected by a flatter- ing majority.
The first Mrs. Edwards died at St. Joseph, leaving two sons,-Harold and Charles. Mr. Edwards was married again Sept. 26, 1869, to Lydia A. Martin, a lady of Indiana. She is a woman of culture, a grad- uate of Carlyle Collegiate Institute, and for 14 years a successful teacher in Indiana and Michigan. Five of six children born of this marriage survive,-Ed- ward, John T., Bessie, Calita and Martin.
The farm of Mr. Edwards is located three miles south of Newaygo; and, in the future in which rest his hopes, as well as in the promise of his sturdy sons, he trusts to retrieve the losses and baffled enterprises of the past. He still holds his ministerial ordination parchments, and is the " lawyer who preaches and the preacher who practices."
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atts Newberg, farmer, section 2, Ensley Township, was born Nov. 17, 1844, in Finland, Russia. When 23 years old he left his native land, came to the United States and at once made his way to Newaygo County, settling in the village of that name, where he resided two years and was variously occu- pied until the spring of 1870, when, in company with his brother, John Newberg, he bought 116 acres of land in Ensley Township. About 86 acres of this property is now cleared and under cultivation. Mr. N. l as a fine peach orchard of about 3,000 bearing trees He is a Republican in political adherence.
He was married in Newaygo, Dec. 25, 1880, to Maximillia Colby. She was born in Allegan Co., Mich., and is a daughter of Wheeler and Elizabeth Colby. Her parents were natives of New Hamp- shire and Ohio. One child has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Newberg, which died when five days old. They are members of the German Lutheran Church.
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