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 46
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Mr. Carpenter is a radical Republican in politics. While a resident of Ottawa County he was Clerk of Crockery Township two years, and served four years as Justice of the Peace; held also several minor official positions. He is connected with the Order of Masonry, and belongs to Cedar Springs Lodge.
The operations in real estate with which Mr. Carpenter has been connected are varied and exten- sive. He has trafficked in large tracts in different counties and is the owner of 181 acres in Montcalm County, with 35 acres cleared and cultivated. He also owns a half interest in 1,000 acres of pine and hardwood land in Wexford County, and holds a large claim in from one to two thousand acres, in the coun- ties of Wexford and Manistee.
D. Webster, merchant, Hesperia, was ...... born in Monroe, Ashtabula Co., Ohio, Oct. 7, 1838. He is a son of Nathaniel and Betsie (Abbott) Webster, natives of New Hampshire and Ontario, respectively. They moved to Ashtabula Co., Ohio, soon after their marriage, and after remaining there for a number of years went to Medina County, same State, where Mr. Webster assisted his father on the farm and attended the common schools of the county until he was 18 years of age, at which time his father died and left him the care of his aged mother. He occupied his time farming in summers and teaching winters until 1858, when he came to Allegan County, this State, and purchased a farm of 80 acres, to which he after- ward added 400 acres of woodland and engaged with a Chicago firm in the wood business, the annual trade amounting to $15,000. During this time he was also extensively engaged in farming.
In the fall of 1873, he came to this county, settled
in Hesperia, and engaged in the lumber business, and was also extensively engaged in the real-estate business and in land speculation. In 1876, he en- gaged in the mercantile and milling business. In the former he carries a stock estimated at $3,000, and also has a saw, planing and flour mill, doing an extensive business in each.
Mr. Webster is one of those active, shrewd busi- ness men who, while they are always benefiting themselves, are at the same time necessary to the prosperity of the town in which they live. He is yet in the prime of life, and possesses an amount of energy and business tact which is certain to place him foremost among the business men of the county. He as held the office of Township Treasurer; in politics he is an active Republican. He is yet un- married.
hil M. Roedel, merchant at White Cloud, was born in Chicago, Ill., Sept. 26, 1857, He is a son of Chris. F. and Jane M. (Mor- gan) Roedel. The father was a native of Germany, and his wife was born in the State of New York. They moved to Chicago and later to Genesee Co., N. Y. In 1869 he was appointed In- dian Agent by President Grant and stationed at Cimarron, New Mexico, at which post he remained two years. He then went to Kansas, where he con- ducted a trade in general merchandise four years. He sold his interests and in October, 1875, came with his family to Newaygo County, and, after fairly establishing his business in the same avenue at White Cloud, his health failed with great rapidity and he died Dec. 5, 1875. The mother is still resident - at White Cloud.
Mr. Roedel of this sketch was 12 years old when his parents came West. His primary education w as obtained in one of the departments of an academy, after which he was sent for some time to the com- mon schools, they being the only available educa- tional institutions where his father was engaged in business. He accompanied his parents to White Cloud, and on the death of his father succeeded to the entire business, comparatively the most exten- sive of its scope in Northern Michigan. His trade during the first year aggregated $17,000. It repre-
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sented at the close of the year ending in October, 1883, a cash amount of $58,000. He is also a mem- ber of the firm of Teachout & Roedel, who are en- gaged in a prosperous enterprise. In 1882 he erected a fine brick building of more extensive proportions than his former establishment, in which the extend- ing departments of his business are accommodated and which is considered the finest in the State.
Mr. Roedel was married in White Cloud, to Min- nie M., second daughter of J. M. and Fannie Gibbs, of White Cloud. Mrs. Roedel was born in Ne- waygo County. One child has been born of her marriage with Mr. Roedel, Charles F., July 25, 1881. The parents are members of the Congregational Church. Mr. Roedel is Republican in political sen- timent and action, and has held the position of Treas- urer in what was then Everett Township, and after its division held the same position in Wilcox Town- ship. He belongs to the Order of the Knights of Honor and is connected with Lodge No. 1,997, at White Cloud.
amuel Rose, the oldest living settler in Newaygo County, resident on section 22, Garfield Township, was born in Granville, Hampden Co., Mass., March 1, 1817. He was reared on a farm and when about nine years of age his parents removed to Simsbury, Conn., near the city of Hartford. The next year they removed to Attica, Genesee Co., N. Y. The mother of Mr. Rose was born June 13, 1796, and is now living at Beaver Dam, Dodge Co., Wis.
In 1836 Mr. Rose decided to begin his career in Michigan, and joined one of his boyhood's friends, Wesley White, in Sandstone, Jackson County. They were about the same age and together came to Ionia, and made their way to Grand Rapids in a canoe on Grand River. There they met Augustus Pennoyer, a capitalist from Chicago, who was about to establish extensive lumber interests at Newaygo. They hired to him for $25 a month and board. The treaty for the cession of the lands lying north of Grand River to the United States by the Ottawas and Otchipwes (Chippewas) was formally made March 28, 1836. This and the approximate admission of Michigan into
the Union tended to open the unsettled and com- paratively unknown portions of the State to specula- tors and others, who had reasons of their own for seeking isolation and security, where they could pursue an equable and honest tenor of life.
It is an admitted fact that Northern Michigan was closed to honest enterprise for many years by tales bordering on the horrible, concerning its swamps and marshes, which were represented as breeding an un- wholesome condition equal to that delineated in the fables of the Dismal Swamp and other low lands in the tropics, when the application of a small degree of common sense would have utterly dispelled any such delusion. Again, the sensation was heightened by bugbear insinuations of armies of horse thieves and counterfeiters, who had their lairs in the marshy jungles of some of the unexplored townships. Newaygo has still her traditionary bete noir, but no mortal can resurrect the least grain of truth in the tales, which were no doubt constructed by individuals to exclude explorers from lands, which the last half century have shown to hold resources second to no other portion of the Peninsula State. The rapid influx of population into Illinois and the demand for building material thereby created (the only human necessity the Sucker State could not supply directly or indirectly) caused the enterprise and capital of Chicago to quicken an already awakened attention to the lumber resources of the Muskegon and its tribu- taries. Early in 1838 a little sail vessel of ten tons burthen left Chicago for Muskegon, carrying two parties, each with a purpose. A man named Hiram Piersons was the instigator of the movements of one party, and was represented by Henry Pennoyer, who is still living, at Nunica. The object to be accom- plished by the latter was to establish claims to the outlets of the streams and hold the same until the Government surveys took place and the land came into market. To effect this men were stationed at different points. Clark Knights and Augustus Pen- noyer constituted a " lumber party," whose purpose was to discover probable water-power and establish active lumber operations.
On arrival at Muskegon the latter employed a French trader, Michel Charleau, as pilot in the channels, the river being for miles obstructed by flood-wood, and in a condition that rendered intelli- gent assistance necessary. (Mr. Charleau's daughter,
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Mrs. James Anderson, is still living, at Newaygo.) Augustus Pennoyer and Jack McBride, a man in his employ, came up with the'lumber party and they established their claims to the mouth of Pennoyer Creek, by cutting names on the trees, and then went to the South Branch, now Little Muskegon, where a sailor cut his name on a tree and went away, but never returned.
The Muskegon Lumber Company, consisting of Alex. N. Fulton, capitalist, and Augustus Pennoyer, built a mill on Pennoyer Creek, the first saw-mill begun and completed in Newaygo County. For this work, supplies and carpenters were sent from Chicago in November, 1836. Three of these men built a boat at Muskegon to convey men and outfits up the river. The mill was completed Sept. 1, 1837, and its lumber was the first shipped from Muskegon. The lumber was floated to the mouth of the river in rafts and was shipped to Chicago on board the schooner Celeste, Capt. Doyle.
In the spring of 1837, a house was built on the upper Pennoyer Creek and timber was got out to build a mill. A family was placed in the house to hold possession. Jack McBride made a claim at the mouth of Brooks Creek in November, 1836. In the spring of 1837 five families came in, the first to establish themselves in Newaygo County. They in- cluded Lewis Bone, wife and children, one of whom was a nursing babe; a man named Hodge, with wife and two children, resided on the place now occupied by James Anderson. Hodge and Bone came from Kalamazoo. Charles Hodge, born 1838, was the first white child born at Newaygo. He lived to be three years old and died at Muskegon. Calvin Lewis and wife came from Yankee Springs, Barry County, and went back there after a stay of six months. Thomas W. Dill came from Chicago with his wife and two children, stayed a year and went to Mill- Iron Point (so named from a quantity of mill-iron left there). A daughter was born to Dill in 1839. who was the first white child born in Muskegon County. She is now the wife of John Curry, lumber- man at Muskegon.
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Capt. Daniel Thurston, a retired sea captain from Maine, accompanied by his wife and two children, came in the same season to engage in lumbering, but made only a short stay, going to Muskegon. On the same day in the spring of 1837, two parties essayed to
take possession of the mouth of the South Branch. The first to arrive in the morning were Germans, Lewis Bone, Herman Joachim' and Jolin Shay, and they busied themselves cutting brush. A few hours later, John A. Brooks and John F. Stearns appeared on the ground, trusting to the supremacy of Yankee wit over Teuton obtuseness for success in supersed- ing the first comers ; but the Deutschers' innate stick- to-it-a-tive-ness stood them in good stead, and a harmonious compromise was effected. A mill was built at the mouth of South Branch Creek, which was completed in 1839.
Later in the same spring another party, under the guidance of a man named Williams, came from Ann Arbor and declared their purpose to build a dam, 100 rods above that constructed by the pioneer consolidation party, built a house, got out timber for a dam which they commenced, and after much blusterado, in July of the same year, abandoned the project.
The first mill on Pennoyer Creek was operated until 1839, when it was abandoned for two years. It was located near the present site of the Furniture Factory. When Rose and White met Mr. Pennoyer in Grand Rapids he was there for the purpose of buying a pair of working cattle, and the three walked through, striking the river about ten miles below Ne- waygo, as the river runs. This was in November, 1836. The stay of Mr. Rose was short and he went to Chicago, where he spent the months of March and April, and in May, 1837, again came to Newaygo and engaged as a lumberman with Augustus Pennoyer, hiring out by the month to work in the woods. Mr. Rose worked two months and then, associated with George W. Walton, contracted to put in logs and clear land for the same firm until June, 1839.
In the fall of 1841 Mr. Rose leased one-half the mill belonging to Augustus Pennoyer and A. N. Fulton, with Hannibal Hyde, now of Mecosta County, and continued to operate it until 1843, when Mr. Rose again leased the mill for two years, with Robert W. Morris. The latter went to work and F. A. and Augustus Pennoyer and Mr. Rose went to Chicago for supplies. The outfit was obtained, and on the night of Oct. 22, 1841, the Post-boy sailed for Mus- kegon, having on board the Pennoyers and their share of the supplies. An accident prevented the em- barkation of Mr. Rose with his collection of needed material, 'and a day or two later a sailing vessel
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from Grand Haven reported the Post-boy lost, with all the souls aboard. Mr. Rose added to his stock what he knew would be needed and sailed for Mus- kegon. He made his way to his destination and was the first to convey the tidings of the death of the owners of the mill.
The two-years lease was fulfilled and one year in addition, and in 1846 he went into what is now Gar- field Township and rented the Brooks saw-mills two years. He paid Mr. Brooks $1,000 yearly for the rental of the mills, and in 1847-8 put out more lum- ber than any other mills on the Muskegon River, ag- gregating 5,000,000 feet. (At that time there was not a house on this side of Pennoyer Creek.) He then went to Big Island in Brooks Township and put in logs one season.
An interesting reminiscence is given of Big Island, lying within the broad channel which forms the out- let of the Muskegon River, as the cattle for miles around were driven there to winter, there being thousands of acres of reeds on which they could subsist. In the winter of 1838, a man named Bald- win drove 32 head of cattle there to obtain feed through the season. This custom was maintained until the winter of 1842-3, "the hardest winter known to man," when four feet of snow lay above the rushes and the powers of the vernal sun seemed in suspense, as not until the first day of April was there the least discernible trace of the sun's rays on the snow of Northern Michigan.
The lands hereabouts came into market in 1839. The survey was made by the two Mullets, John and John, Jr., in 1837-8, and in the year named the three Pennoyers, Judson, the Newels, Horace and Erastus Wilcox (the latter, father of the late Sextus N. Wilcox, of tragic fate), Martin A. Ryerson, now a Chicago millionaire, John A. Brooks, John F. Stearns, Bone and Joachim went in a canoe to Ionia, took supplies and a cook and held the fort until the op- portunity came to buy their claims. This they accom- plished without opposition, but they were pressed for money, the recent financial stringencies of 1837-8 having them still in its clutches and compelling them to limit their expenditure to the minimun. No more land was bought in Newaygo County until 1851.
In 1852, Mr. Rose engaged in locating lands for himself and others, when he secured section 22 (town 12, range 13), except 80 acres. He now
owns 220 acres- of the same, which constitutes his farm, 120 acres of which are under good improve- ments.
"Sam Rose " is, par excellence, the character of Newaygo. Nearly 48 years ago, while yet a stripling, his feet first trod the soil where his life has since been passed. He is the revered oracle of the commu- nity. He is the referee as to dates and events along the whole line of the Muskegon. He knows every man's history who has such a commodity about him. He has a fund of anecdote and reminiscence stored within the limitless resources of his memory that if collated would constitute a volume. He can give details of the operations of contractors, lumber companies and individuals that would be novel en- tertainment to the parties themselves. He is liter- ally a perfect cyclopedia of events in this section of Northern Michigan, and can fit a reminiscence to every foot of territory within his cognizance, and to every individual who ever trod thereon. There is no feature of pioneer life unknown to him practi- cally. He has suffered from privation and hunger and known every conceivable want from the remote- ness of supplies. He has enjoyed all the freedom incident to life in a region not under the strictness of municipal regulations, and seen the gradual innova- tion of the customs and methods of advancing civil- ization and progress. He knows equally the ways and habits of the aboriginal inhabitants and those of the generations whose encroachments have driven the former from their heritage and forced them to a decay, which would be pitiful if it had retained a trace of the grandeur of their original condition. Sam Rose is the link between the Newaygo of to-day and the Newaygo of a half century ago. He has probably witnessed as great a change in the face of the country, in the methods of business and in the social and domestic manners of the people, as any man has ever seen in this pioneer country ; and what associa- tions, especially those enveloped with a halo of charms, must linger in his poetical memory of the wild days of lonely, frontier life !
The patrons of the Newaygo County Album will share in the peculiar satisfaction with which its pub- lishers present the portrait of Mr. Rose on another page, and will rejoice that the general sentiment re- garding its appearance has met with the desired re- sponse.
NEWAYGO COUNTY.
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eorge F. Martin, farmer, section 18, Beaver Township, was born Sept. 18, 1852, in Kane Co., Ill., and is the son of Lewis and Mary (Warren) Martin, the former a native of the State of New York, the latter of Vermont. His father came to Newaygo County in 1859, and established himself in the mill first, then in the carding business in Denver Township, in which he is still engaged.
Mr. Martin was reared to manhood under the supervision of his father, and instructed in the details of the machine shop and mills, where he worked until he was 25 years of age. He was married Feb. 19, 1877, to Pluma F., daughter of Barzillai and Jane (Farley) Giddings, born Sept. 12, 1855. After his marriage he determined on the vocation of agriculture as the business of his life, and in 1877 moved to Newaygo County and bought 80 acres of land in Beaver Township. Of this he has placed 30 acres under cultivation. In political sen- timent and action he is a Republican, and has offici- ated as School Inspector of Beaver Township. The family includes three children, born as follows : Estella D., Aug. 16, 1878, Clarence L., Feb. 15, 1881; and William J., June 25, 1882.
A aron S. Skinner, lumberman, residing at Newaygo, was born Jan. 1, 1819, at Rich- mond, Ontario Co., N. Y. His father, Nelson Skinner, was born in Middletown, Rutland Co., Vt., of Scotch-Irish ancestry, and died at Richmond, in 1850. His mother, Rhoda (Sheldon) Skinner, was born in Cato, Cayuga Co., N. Y., of mixed Scotch and English parentage.
Mr. Skinner remained a resident of his native State until 1854, when he removed to Kent Co., Mich., and bought 80 acres of land, on which he resided, and made improvements until 1861, when he bought a brick-yard in the eastern part of the city of Grand Rapids. He conducted the details of the manufacture of brick about three years, making from two to four million yearly, as the demand varied.
In 1863 he bought a stage route from Grand Rapids through Newaygo via Big Rapids to Grand Traverse, and continued its management to 1871, in which year the railroad was in full operation. He then en- gaged as a contractor and has since been putting in timber, employing a force of 50 men on an average. He purchased the site of his residence on Jarse Hill in 1869 and erected his dwelling.
Mr. Skinner was married at Springwater, Livings- ton Co., N. Y., June 26, 1849, to Maria, daughter of Samuel and Sally Wright, born at Duanesburg, Schenectady Co., N. Y., April 8, 1819. They have five children: Charles is in business at Newaygo. Annie is the wife of John Lymington, of Fremont Center. The remaining three, Clara, Stella and Nelson, reside with their parents. Mr. Skinner belongs to the fraternity of Odd Fellows.
grancis C. Selby, merchant and Postmaster at Volney, Beaver Township, was born April 18, 1836, in Hamilton Co., Ohio. His father, George W. Selby, was born July 5, 1813, in the State of Virginia, and removed in early manhood to Hamilton Co., Ohio, where he resided 8 years and then moved to Adams Co., Ind., whence he came to Kalamazoo Co., Mich., and subsequently to Allegan County, where he is still res- ident. The mother, Mary Ann (Banksten) Selby, was born in Vermont and died in Adams Co., Ind.
Mr. Selby was chiefly engaged in the several places where his parents resided, in obtaining his education and fitting himself for active life. On attaining his majority he set out to establish himself in the world and to do all in his power to secure for himself the practical benefits of honest industry and energetic effort, put into operation under the guidance of his best impulses and judgment. He selected Winne- bago Co., Ill., as a field of operation, where he en- gaged in farming near the city of Rockford, residing there two years. He returned to Kalamazoo County, where he spent a similar period in a like manner, and then engaged in the mercantile business for two years. Natural impulses of his manhood, under the influences which ruled the entire North in the first years of the Southern Rebellion, led him to take a deep interest in the progress of the contest which
nylo Graham
J. M. Prahan
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became the central object of the interest of the whole world, and he enlisted Feb. 29, 1864, in the 13th Mich. Vol. Inf., Co. H. The command was as- signed to the 14th Army Corps and attached to the Second Brigade. He served until the end of the war, engaging in numerous skirmishes and two im- portant battles, Bentonville and Goldsboro, N. C.
On receiving his discharge he returned to Kalama- zoo County: He then moved to the county of Alle- gan, where he was in agricultural pursuits four years. On selling out he went to Ottawa Station, Ottawa County, near Holland, where he again established himself in mercantile life. Two years later he trans- ferred his business to Ravenna, Muskegon County, where he conducted his affairs about the same period of time. He founded his present business enterprise in June, 1881, and is managing carefully and with satisfactory results. He is also engaged in farming to some extent, and is associated with William Nixon in the proprietorship of a saw-mill located on sec- tion 29, which has a producing capacity of 12,000 feet of lumber daily. It is under the special charge and management of Mr. Nixon.
Mr. Selby has been twice married. Huldah C. Stillwell, the first wife to whom he was married, April 19, 1859, was born Dec. 10, 1841, and was the daughter of Elias and Sarah (Underwood) Still- well, born respectively in Ohio and Canada. By this marriage there were five children : Mary Ann, now the wife of John Stoddard; Sophronia, now Mrs. N. A. Clark; the others are William H., Stella G. and Sarah S. Mrs. S. died May 20, 1872. The second marriage of Mr. Selby occurred Feb. 28, 1873, to Mrs. Mattie A. (Platt) Longley, born in Cattaraugus Co., N. Y., Dec. 18, 1842. Her father, Daniel Platt, was born July 13, 1798. He was a Baptist minister, was a graduate of Madison University, Hamilton, N. Y., and preached 40 years. He died Sept. 18, 1868. Her mother, Almira (Skinner) Platt, was born Nov. 24, 1805. Both were natives of the Empire State and located in after life in Allegan Co., Mich., in 1846, and the mother died there May 18, 1873. Her first husband was lost in 1862, at the battle of Stone River. He left a daughter, Julia F., now the wife of Charles Ackerman, of Ravenna, Muskegon County. Mr. and Mrs. Selby have two children,-Frankie C. and Dayton D.
Mr. Selby acts with the Democratic party in political
issues. He received his appointment as Postmaster in 1881, from President Garfield. He was elected Justice of the Peace in the spring of 1882, and is also School Inspector of Beaver Township.
oseph H. Graham, farmer and lumberman, section 36, Goodwell Township, was born in Parma, Jackson Co., Mich., Jan. 28, 1843. His father, Lorenzo D. Graham, was one of the first settlers of Jackson Co., Mich., and was the son of John Graham, a native of Scotland. L. D. Graham was born April 15, 1809, and died Nov. 21, 1848. Sarah (Lewis) Graham, the mother, was born March 11, 1820, in New York, and died Oct. 11, 1880, in Jackson County.
Mr. Graham was five years old when he became fatherless, and at 11 years of age he went to live with Chauncey Stevens, of St. Joseph Co., Mich., where he remained three years. He then returned to his native county and worked on the farm sum- mers and went to school winters, until he was 20 years old, when he went to Grand Rapids. After spending a winter there he went to Mecosta County and commenced lumbering on the Muskegon River.
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