USA > Michigan > Genesee County > Portrait and biographical record of Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola counties, Michigan > Part 2
USA > Michigan > Lapeer County > Portrait and biographical record of Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola counties, Michigan > Part 2
USA > Michigan > Tuscola County > Portrait and biographical record of Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola counties, Michigan > Part 2
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For forty-six years Mr. Hemingway followed the calling of a farmer and was very successful in it. as indeed it could not well be otherwise, as he gave the most constant and intelligent attention to his work. In about 1861 he began handling machinery and became an agent for the manufac- turers and has continued this business in connec- tion with his farming interests. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and has held a number of official positions. He was originally un old-line Whig, but since the organization of
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the Republican party has joined its ranks. He has held every oflive within the gift of the people of Hadley Township except those of Highway Com- missioner nud Treasurer. He is now Justice of the Peace and at the expiration of his present term will have served sixteen years in this capacity. Socially he is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons but has been identified with various other secret societies.
h ORATIO N. JENNINGS, publisher of the Fenton Independent, one of the best edited and most newsy sheets of Genesee County, was born in Steubenville, Ohno, October 11, 1827. His father, John Jennings, was born in . Glasgow, Scotland, and came to America in 1812. In New York, he worked at his trade, silk weav- ing, and then located near Steubenville, and later removed to Trumbull County, Ohio, where he pur- chased a farm and settled upon it. About the year 1850 he moved to Kent, Portage County, Ohio, and there he died in 1856 at the age of sixty-six. His good wife, Margaret McComb, was a Pennsylvanian by birth and like her husband a member of the Presbyterian Church. She died in 1813 leaving five children, two of whom are now living.
Mr. Jennings was given the usual school and home advantages of the farmer's boy, and attended n private school for a short time. At the age of lifteen he entered the office of the Ohio Star nt Ravenna, and some five years later he took a position ns journeyman printer in the office of the Ohio Statesman. He became one of a stock company which established the Capital City Fart, a daily and weekly paper. In this he was busi- ness manager for a year or so and then took the general management of a printing department. Three years later he sold out his interest there and went back to Portage County, where he was fore- man on the Portage County Democrat.
In 1867 Mr. Jennings came to Fenton, and the following year he established the Fenton Independ- ont, which he has published for twenty-three years
without missing a single number. It has been en- larged in the meantime from a seven-column folio to a six-column quarto. For the past ten years it has advoented Republican doctrines. In 1881 Mr. Jennings took his son, John Il., into partnership and the firm name is now I1. N. & J. Il. Jennings. Our subject was married in 1851 to Ida A. Peck of New York, and their four children are Lizzie M., .John 11., and the twins Clara Nell, and Carrie Belle. The son is a graduate of Michigan Univers- ity where he took his diploma in 1883, and for the past twelve years the eldest daughter has been a teacher. Our subject is now a member of the Vil- Inge Council and has been for a number of years although he is not a seeker of office, but has ever devoted himself to his business. He has built up a fine establishment which is well equipped and is run by steam power. For twenty-five years Mr. Jennings has been a member of the Masonic fra- ternity.
ENRY C. KUDNER, editor of the famons Lapeer County Democrat, is one of the most prominent young men of the Wolverine State. The city of New York claims the honor of his birth, which important event occurred in 1858. Mr. Kudner, Sr., with his family came to Michigan in 1861 and settled in Detroit. Two years later they moved to Pontiac where our subject spent his boyhood. There being four boys and one girl in the family, as soon as Henry was large enough he was set to work to earn his own living.
In the office of the Pontiac Gazette Mr. Kudner learned the trade of a printer and after graduating from that seminary he worked as a compositor on the Detroit Pere Press, but was soon taken from the ense and served some time in reporting. Soon, however, he began to think of launching out on his own necount. In 1882 he bought the Lapeer County Democrat, a weekly paper with a subscrip- tion list of about live hundred names, most of them people who did not pay promptly. Lapeer had been a strong Republican county ever since
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the formation of the Republican party, and the Democratie paper for twenty years or more hardly dared assert its own existence.
But Mr. Kuduer was not the kind of man to hide his light under a bushel. The Lapeer County Democrat speedily came to the front and became the most extensively circulated and the best-known paper, not only in the county but in the whole congressional distriet. The remarkable success of the Lapeer County Democrat has brought corres- ponding financial results to the enterprising pro- , prietor. In addition to the printing and publish- ing business Mr. Kuduer is now extensively en- gaged in lumbering operations in Michigan and other States. Though frequently importuned by his fellow-citizens he has firmly declined to accept any public office, yet he takes an active part in directing the political machinery of his party. He is Chairman of the Democratic County Committee. Having always been, in Western parlance, a great . "hustler," he has been remarkably successful.
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E LLERY IVORY, a prosperous farmer of Hadley Township, Lapeer County, is one of a family of five children and was born July 2, 1818, in Dodge County, Wis., where his parents had moved from New York about the year 1812. His father, Willian Ivory, was a New Yorker by birth, Jefferson County being his native home, and August 22, 1822, his natal day. He was descended from Irish stock.
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The matters of public interest which excite the minds of the citizens of our country are subjects of deep interest to Mr. Ivory and he has confidence that the pohtical dogmas embraced in the declara- tions of the Republican party ure such as will bear the test of time and bring prosperity to our beloved country. He has been to a considerable extent ac- tive in furthermg the interests of the county and is always pleased to lend a helping hand to any movement which looks to the upbuilding of the community.
ILLIAM B. EVATT, a prominent citizen of Grand Blanc Township, Genesee County, and a veteran of the renowned Army of the Tennessee, resides on section 5. Ilo is a native of Ontario County, N. Y., and was born January 26, 1833. He isa son of John and Mercy A. ( Hackett) Evatt, his father being n native of County Cork, Ireland, coming to America when ten years of age. His father was a soldier in the War of 1812. Our subject's mother was a a native of Connecticut. He of whom we write was reared to manhood in his native State and county. In youth he spent one year in learning the harness- maker's trade, but when eighteen years of age he began to learn the blacksmith's trade and served an apprenticeship of three years, working in all in that business about seventeen years.
Our subjvet was married while in the Empire State at Austerlitz, Columbia County, December 3, 1858, his bride being Miss Ellis E. Sprague, who was born in Ontario County, N. Y., and who isn daughter of Michael and Irene (Reid) Sprague. By his mion there were born four children, three of whom are living at the present time-Charles A., Arthur G. and Mary, the deceased son being Fred.
Our subject was married October 12, 1873, to Ophelia, a daughter of Joseph Shook, who was a native of Pennsylvania. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Ivory has been granted one child, Earl, who was born in 1878. The eighty neres of land upon which Mr. Ivory's beautiful home stands is asseved at a higher ligure than any other property in the town. of Hadley and indeed is as high as any in the Mr. Evatt came to Michigan before the war and . was a resident of Hilldale County at the breaking out of the war. From there he enlisted in August, ! 1862, in Company A, Eighteenth Michigan Infan- try and was assigned to duty with the Army of county. Mr. Ivory owns three hundred and ten acres of land in Elba and Hadley Townships, most of which he has accumulated by dint of his own industry and economy, supplemented by the wire counsel and co-operation of his valuable helpmate. , the Tennessee. He fought in the battle of Dan-
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ville, Ky., at the siege of Knoxville, and was also present at. Decatur. His valiant services during the Rebellion are recognized by the Government by the award of a pension of $30 per month, He served about one year and nine months and way then discharged for disability.
After returning from the war Mr. Evalt came to Tienesce County and settled here in the '70s. For n short time he ran a blacksmith and wagon shop . nt Gibsonville and eventually settled upon his present farm. He here owns fifty neres of land that is under excellent cultivation. Generously gifted by nature, our subject has in no wise folded his talents in a napkin. He received his education in the common schools of Ontario County, N. Y., his advantages, however, being limited. A Repub- lican in polities, he is one of the men of this dis- triet who may be depended upon by the best ele- ment of his party to support the platform. Socially he belongs to the Masonic order and also to the post at Flint of the Grand Army of the Republic. He has been Deputy Sheriff of Grand Blane Town- ship and also of the county and has also served as Constable, filling these various offices most accept- ably to his constituents. He is one of the men who lend n ready and helping hand to every plank that goes to make the superstructure of social and commercial life firm and unshaken in his district.
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C HARLES HI. CHENEY. In the building up of a community that bears the admirable features of successful rural life, many brains and hands are needed in the construction of the aggregate whole. He of whom we write is one of the most energetic and enterprising of the loyal and progressive citizens of Grand Blane Township, Genesce County. He is a prominent farmer and stock-raiser and resides on seetion 11. A native of Monroe County, N. Y., our subject was born Deceit- ber 6, 1831. He is a son of Warren and Maria ( P'el ton ) Cheney, the former being a native of Vermont and the latter of the Empire State.
When eight years old our subject with his par- ents emigrated to this State and settled in Oakland
County. The family came hither by way of the lakes to Detroit and located a farm in Oakland County at an early day when the Indians and wolves were the chief inhabitants of the land. There our subject increased in stature and mental strength, hardened and made sturdy by the experiences of pioneer life. He helped clear up several farms, and a forest of stumps with a few sentinels of trees that are less their foliage is not an unfamiliar pic- ture to him, for he has spent many a day in cut- tig timber and burning stumps. Mr. Cheney received his education in the little schoolhouse of the district.
In early manhood the original of our sketch assumed the responsibilities of married life. The partner of his joys and sorrows was Temperance Sholes, who bore him two sons, both of whom are deceased. Some time after the death of Temper- ance Cheney, our subject again married, his bride being Miss Alma Mitchell. By this marriage he became the father of three children, two of whom are living-Grant and Frank. After marriage he and his bride settled in Atlas Township and there resided several years.
The removal was made to his present farm by Mr. Cheney in the spring of 1870 and he has ever since made this his home. He here owns one hun- dred and seventy acres of land, one hundred and thirty acres of which comprise his home farm. 'It is in an excellent state of cultivation and bears fine buildings and all the accessories that go to make rural life complete. He has witnessed the growth of this portion of the country from an aboriginal state of wildness to the most prolific district of the country.
Charles H. Cheney has served his loenlity in various positions. He has been School Director for years, and anything that promises a betterment of the condition of educational methods, catches his attention and appeals to his favor. Several years ago he became a candidate for the position of Supervisor on the Democratic ticket, but was defeated by Charles .Case. The success that has attended our subject shows what a man of ability may accomplish in this country. He had no pecun- nry advantages over his fellow men, but n strong determination to conquer difficulties soon placed
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him in an independent position where he could marshal his resources so as to bring him a hand- some return. His interests are largely engaged in stock-raising, having fine home-bred Clydesdale horses. His home is one of the finest in Conosce County and shows that his mind is above the more hoarding of wealth.
'SAAC SCHRAM. This septuagenarian and representative pioneer of Grund Blane Town- I, ship, Genesee County, makes his home on sec- tion 16. Hle is a native of Jefferson County, N. Y. and was born upon the 11th of April, 1818. His parents, John I. and Esther (Edick) Schram, were both natives of New York and they brought this son with them to Michigan in 1836. They jour- neyed through Canada, by team, being twenty-two day's on the way and settling at first in Genesee County.
John Schram finally settled in Burton Town- ship and purchasing land here established his family in a log cabin. He was the father of eight children, six of whom are living, Isaac, Truman, William, James, David and Mary J. Isaac was reared here amidst the scenes of pioneer life and has been an eye witness of the wonderful growth of this county. At that time Flint was only a small handet and the boy received only a district school education in the schools of the adjoining districts. In those days he used oxen in clearing the land and breaking the sod and did much efficient work in this these directions.
The happy marriage of Mr. Schram took place in May, 1813, his bride being Ann E. Orvis, who was born in New England. She became the mother of two children, Catherine E., wife of Jacob Closterman and Joseph. About the year 1815 he settled with his wife on the farm where he now resides, and here he has since lived. He experienced the bereavement of losing his companion in 1862. Her departure was sincerely felt by all who had had the happiness of knowing her and to her family the loss was indeed severe.
Mr. Schram settled upon the farm und made it
what it is to-day by hard labor and unremitting enterprise. There is probably no man in his dis- triet who has done more genuine pioneer work than he, and he now hus one hundred and twenty neres under excellent cultivation and all the result of his own prudence and euergy. He was county Drain Commissioner for seven years. He has been Township Highway Commissioner for thirty-two years and is a very publie-spirited nud enterprising mu, belonging in his political views to the Re- publican ranks. This religious views have led him into the Episcopal Church in Flint, and he is highly esteemed for both character and ability and especially for his generosity and integrity. Ilis farm is one of the finest in Grand Binne Township and fully exemplifies his pluck, push and persever- ance.
E LIIU WAITE, the Justice of the Peace of Fenton and a man very highly esteemed for his sterling qualities and his work ns n Magistrate, came into Michigan with limited means and bought eighty acres of wild land which he uns cleared and improved, and has here educated his children, who have proved worthy of the care and training bestowed upon them. He was born in Monroe County, N. Y., June 16, 1830, and is a son of Elihu and Lydia (Fuller) Waite, the father be- ing a native of Massachusetts, and the mother, born near Saratoga, N. Y. He is descended from a long line of New England ancestry and his forefathers were in the Revolutionary service.
On the mother's side our subject is descended from the Brewsters, who came over in the " May- flower." His father was a blacksmith and owned n small farm. He. Ind removed from Massachusetts when a young man and lived in Monroe County, N. Y. till he came to Michigan where he died in 1865, having reached the age of sixty-nine years. He was a Baptist from his boyhood ns was also his good wife who died at the age of sixty-four.
Our subject has but one brother living. They were educated in the district school and had also the selvet school advantages. At the age of six- teen Elihu Waite began work upon a farm for the
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wages of $50 a year. Upon coming West ho rented land in Rose Township, Oakland County, and after living there two years removed to Tyrone Town- ship, Livingston County, buying eighty acres and having built a house, settled upon it and devoted himself to its cultivation. He retired from active farming in 1888 and spent two years in Kalamazoo and one year on the Upper Peninsula with his sons.
Hle of whom we write was married in 1850 to Elizabeth Tarbell, a New Yorker by birth who died in 1888. Her seven children are Burton C., who is married and is engaged in the manufacture of 'brick in Kalamazoo. Byron S., who is married and lives at Menominee on the Northern Penin- sula of Michigan. He graduated from the Uni- versity of Michigan in the literary course in 1880 and is now practicing law; Addie, a teacher ; Alice, wife of D. G. Jayne, a farmer in Livingston County; Ira E., deceased; William F., a lawyer of Escanaba, who took a three years' course in the Michigan University and Daniel J., who is a graduate of the Fenton Normal School and the Commercial College and is now in the insurance business at Escanaba.
From the time of the organization of the Ro. publican party Mr. Waite has been earnestly and conscientiously attached to the doctrines thus re- presented and he is frequently a delegate to Con- gressional conventions and was some few years ago the Chairman of the District convention. For seventeen years he has been a Justice of the Peace. and has also served as Supervisor and Highway Commissioner. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity for twenty-six years nind is Secretary of the Fenton Union Agricultural As- sociation.
G EORGE M. EDDY, the proprietor of the Eddy stock farm which is located near Fen- ton, is a native of Erie County, Pa., where he was born November 5, 1831. Hisfather, Nathan Eddy, a Vermonter by birth removed to Erie County when a young man and there became a
farmer, but migrated to Michigan in 1811 locating on wild land in Fenton Township, Genesee County. He has ever lived a pious upright life and has been a devoted member of the Methodist Episcopal Church for many years, He lost his beloved wife whose maiden name was Mercy Douglas, in 1885. She was also a life-long member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was a native of the Green Mountain State. He has now reached the age of eighty-live years and of his three children, two, Benjamin D. and our subject, now survive.
Our subject remembers Michigan as a wilderness, ns he was seven years old at the time his parents removed hither, and he received his elementary education on the slab seats of the primitive log schoolhouse. At the age of eighteen his father gave him his freedom and he learned the carpen- ter's trade and worked at it for some time. In 1855 be purchased his present farm of wild and unimproved land and began the work of trans- formation which has resulted in making it a pro- ductive and well ordered farm with all modern improvements.
The first marriage of Mr. Eddy was with Jane Metmber, a native of Oakland County, whose parents were among the early settlers of the Wol- verine State. She died in February, 1890, leaving three children -- Hattie C., wife of Leslie Cook, a prominent druggist of Fenton; Charles S., a prom- ting young business man and proprietor of the best livery stable in Fenton, and Marion E. a farmer. The present Mrs. Eddy who became the wife of our subject JJanuary 21, 1891, bore the maiden name of Hattie Wells. She is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was born near Hamilton, Canada, of English ancestry.
Mr. Eddy is a stanch Republican in his political views but in no sense an office-secker. He is promi- nently identified with the Knights Templar. Upon his beautiful farm of one hundred and sixty . aeres he has since 1885 carried on the business of raising trotting horses as he purchased that year the cele- brated "Golden King" a fine specimen of the Ham- bletonian family, who was sued by "Golden Bon" und traces his line back to the famous "Volunteer." "Golden King" is now eight years old and is recognized as a brilliant animal by all good judges
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of horse flesh. Mr. Eddy has raised and sold a number of very fine animals some of which are now scattered throughout the New England States, and he at present has some twenty head of horses on his farm.
In 1887 our subject purchased n line of steamers which he runs on Long Lake near his farm, but he has since turned them over to his sons, which are regularly kept going during the season by the Eddy Brothers. He has this year completed and equipped the Fenton and Long Lake Street Ruil- road, extending from the city of Fenton to the head of Long Lake, and this adds greatly to the comfort and accommodation of pleasure seekers. Mr. Eddy began life empty handed and has ste- ceeded in accumulating a handsome property and more than this he is n genial warm-hearted man and one who has a rich fund of information.
ON. ALEXANDER W. DAVIS. One who made a record for himself during the pe- riod of secession and the time when the country was divided in opinion as to the right and justice of holding human beings in bon- dage and buying and selling them like stock, is he whose name is given above. He was an uncom- promising and radical Union man during the late Civil War and one who became eminent as a war legislator. He had strong opinions and was not afraid to speak them. He is n native of Albany, N. Y., being there born October 30, 1821. He was n son of Ebenezer and Phebe B. ( Burhans) Davis.
Although both our subject's parents were na- tives of New York, he inherits a sturdiness of character from his Welsh paternal ancestors, and balancing of ideas from his maternal ancestors, who were Germans with n dash of both English and Irish blood. Mr. Davis was the fifth in order of birth of the parental family. Prior to the admit- tance of Michigan to the Union as a State, his par- ent- family, in 1836, removed to Tuscola County, this State, coming by way of Canada to Detroit, and settling in Tuscola Township, his father being the Arst permanent white settler in that district, The
list home which the family enjoyed in this State was a enbin covered with bark and loented in the midst of the woods. They experienced all the hardships of pioneer life and were one of the many hard-working families who have beautified and enriched the country as it now is. Their first purchase comprised fifty acres of land for which they paid the Government $1.25 per acre. There was a large family of children sheltered in the cabin, and those that are still living are as fol- lows: Amos; Alexander; Oliver; Jane, widow of the late Hon. Alfred Hohes; Sarah, wife of Thomas Lewis; and Esther, now Mrs. Decker.
The original of our sketch was renred for the most part in Tuscom County, and as he attained manhood became one of the most enterprising citi- zens of that portion of the country. With an ox- team he might almost any day have been seen working industriously at clearing up the land. As a boy he attended school in the district, and for a short time was a student nt Albion Seminary, now Albion College. He has been an extensive breeder and is practically well educated. While at Albion he was a schoolmate of the present Gov. Winans, of Michigan.
When nineteen years old Mr. Davis started out in life for himself and came to Genesec County, . where he was engaged in farm work, receiving 810 per month for his services. He was thus em- ployed for several years and was in the service of Judge J. R. Smith for some three years, whose farm he now owns. In the spring of 1847 he en- listed in Company A, Fifteenth Michigan Infan- try, and took part in the Mexican War. He fought in the battles of Contreras and Churubusco under Cien. Scott in Pillow's Division and Pierce's Brig- ade. The latter afterward became President of the United States. Our subject was wounded in the right knee and was confined to the hospital for a year, when he was sent to Baton Rouge, In., in October, 1818.
After Mr. Davis' discharge from the war he re- turned to Michigan and in the fall of 1850 started for California, going by way of New York and the Istinnus of Panama. During an absence of three years he pursued gold mining and did fairly well, He then returned by the same route, com-
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