USA > Michigan > Grand Traverse County > Sprague's history of Grand Traverse and Leelanaw counties, Michigan embracing a concise review of their early settlement, industrial development and present conditions...to which will be appended...life sketches of well-known citizens of the county > Part 61
USA > Michigan > Leelanau County > Sprague's history of Grand Traverse and Leelanaw counties, Michigan embracing a concise review of their early settlement, industrial development and present conditions...to which will be appended...life sketches of well-known citizens of the county > Part 61
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Orlando C. Moffatt was born in Lyons,
Michigan, August 6, 1865. His father was Hon. S. C. Moffatt, a native of Battle Creek, Michigan, by profession a lawyer. His mother was Emma R. (Linnell) Moffatt. Hon. S. C. Moffatt died in the city of Wash- ington, while a member of congress, in 1887, while Mrs. Moffatt is still living, a resident of Traverse City. The family consisted of three sons and one daughter, two of the former being now dead, the daughter, Edna, and Orlando C. being the survivors. Hon. S. C. Moffatt was a man of pronounced ability and unbounded popularity through- out the state. His political career began as early as 1868, when he was elected to the state senate. In 1871 he was appointed by the governor a member of the committee on the revision of the constitution. He was appointed, in 1874, register of the land office at Traverse City, which necessitated the removal of the family to this place. In 1881 he was elected a mem- ber of the lower house of the state legisla- ture and upon the convening of that body was made speaker. The congressional nomination for the eleventh district was ten- dered him in 1884 and he was triumphantly elected. The eleventh district at that time comprised the entire upper peninsula and three of the northern counties of the lower peninsula. So faithfully did he discharge the duties of the position that in 1886 he was renominated and elected by an increased ma- jority. His untimely death, the following year, cut short a most promising career.
The early life of Orlando C. Moffatt, up to the time he was nine years old, was passed at Lyons and Northport, the family having moved to the latter place in 1868. In 1874 they moved to Traverse City, where they have since resided. Here Orlando re-
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ceived the greater part of his education in the city schools, which he attended until he was eighteen years of age. On leaving school he accepted a position in the banking house of Hannah, Lay & Company, which he held for five years. Being tendered a position in the Old National Bank of Grand Rapids, he accepted, but held it only a few months, when the death of his father made it imperative that he should remain in Trav- erse City. Soon afterward he purchased the abstract books of Grand Traverse coun- ty and has ever since been engaged in that business.
On August 6, 1888, Orlando C. Moffatt was united in marriage to Miss Mary Cam- eron, a native of Utica, New York. Her parents are Archibald and Mary (Fulton) Cameron, the father born in Scotland, while the mother is a native of Ireland. They came to Traverse City many years ago and previous to her marriage Mrs. Moffatt was engaged in teaching. She is a lady of much ability and excellent judgment, a worthy partner for a young man just entering upon a most promising political career. They are the parents of six children, viz: Seth, their first born, died in 1897, at the age of six years; Margaret, Dorothy, Mary, Cam- eron and Catharine. The three older chil- dren are attending school and making good progress in their studies.
Orlando C. Moffatt is as pronounced a Republican in politics as was his father. Be- ing engaged in the abstract business, the of- fice of register of deeds is for him a very de- sirable position. In 1898 he became a can- didate for the office, was nominated and elected by a majority considerably larger than that which the general ticket received. He was re-elected. in 1900 and in 1902 he
received the nomination for state senator, the official count disclosing his majority to be about four thousand. Of the total vote cast he received about seventy-five per cent. Before the completion of his senatorial term it is confidently expected that he will dis- close such qualities of statesmanship as will win him a still higher place, not only in the affairs of the state and nation, but, what he values more highly, in public regard and esteem. Neither Mr. nor Mrs. Moffatt be- longs to any church or religious denomina- tion. They, however, usually attend the services at the Congregational church. He is a Mason, it being the only fraternal order to which he belongs, and he has taken all of the degrees up to the consistory. In the work of this order he is deeply interested and is rarely absent from regular or stated meetings of the lodge. He is noted for his prudence and caution, and is proud of his family and of the accomplishments of his distinguished father. He possesses every requisite, if life is spared to him, to win for himself fame and a name that will be known and respected throughout the land.
JOHN SCOTT.
Forty-six years have elapsed since John Scott came to Leelanaw county. This dis- trict was then wild, its land unclaimed, its resources undeveloped. A few courageous frontiersmen had dared to locate within its borders, but the work of progress and im- provement remained to the future and there was little promise of early development. The Indians still roamed through the forests and traded with the white settlers, but were
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peaceable in their relations with the "pale faces." Streams were unbridged, forests uncut and the land uncultivated. In the years which have passed since the arrival of Mr. Scott in this locality a great trans- formation has been wrought and in this he has largely aided, bearing his full share in the work of developing the county until it now ranks with the foremost in this com- monwealth. He is now a prosperous farm- er, enjoying the merited reward of a long and honorable business career.
Mr. Scott resides on section 18, Lee- lanaw township, and his birth occurred in Lenox county, Ontario, January 20, 1838, his parents being John and Jane (Hamil- ton) Scott, both of whom were natives of Ireland and were of Scotch-Irish descent. In early life they became residents of the new world and both died in Hastings coun- ty, Ontario, the mother passing away when about seventy-five years of age, while the father, surviving her for a considerable pe- riod, died at the very venerable age of eighty-four years. They were the parents of thirteen children, of whom John Scott is the fourth.
In the county of his nativity the sub- ject of. this review grew to manhood and when but twenty years of age he left the pa- rental roof and started out in life on his own account. He had no capital, but he pos- sessed a resolute spirit and unfaltering cour- age, and these have been the salient feat- ures in his life work. Going to New York, he was there employed for a few years, after which he made his way westward and re- mained a resident of Walworth county, Wisconsin, until the fall of 1857, when, in company with his brother Andrew, he came to Leelanaw county, Michigan. The fol-
lowing year he became actively identified wtih farming interests here, and for forty- five years he has lived upon the farm which is still his home. There are few residents here who can boast so long connection with one farm. Mr. Scott owns two hundred and thirty acres of land and in the midst of well tilled fields stand substantial build- ings which are commodious, furnishing ample shelter for grain and stock, and he provided his family with a good home. . The cultivated portion of his farm covers one hundred and forty acres.
In Northport, Michigan, on the 16th of May, 1864, Mr. Scott was united in mar- riage to Miss Elizabeth Budd, who was born in Woodstock, Ontario, on the 14th of July, 1844. She is a most estimable lady and to her husband has been a faithful compan- ion and helpmate on the journey of life. Her parents were Henry and Martha (Voice) Budd, both of whom are natives of England, and prior to the Civil war they became residents of the United States, hav- ing lived for a time in Canada. When the South made an attempt to overthrow the Union Mr. Budd became a loyal advocate of the governmental policy at Washington and joined the Union army. He served for three years and then died of smallpox while with the Union troops. About 1855 he had come with his family to Leelanaw county, Michigan, and settled in Northport, where he was living at the time of his enlistment with the boys in blue. Mrs. Budd survived her husband for a number of years and died in Northport when about ninety-two years of age. This worthy couple were the par- ents of nine children, of whom Mrs. Scott was the second. Unto the subject and his wife have been born three children, who yet
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survive, namely : John E., Albert H. and Birney. They also lost one daughter, who died when four years of age.
John Scott also became a defender of the Union cause at the time of the Civil war, enlisting in May, 1864, with Company F, Fifteenth Michigan Infantry, with which he served for a year. He has taken an active part in township and county affairs and has been honored with positions of pub- lic preferment. He served as sheriff of Leelanaw county for one term, has been highway commissioner and justice of the peace. Both he and his wife hold member- ship in the Congregational church of North- port, of which he is one of the stewards, and his social relations connect him with Northport Lodge No. 265, Free and Ac- cepted Masons, of which he has been master. His entire freedom from ostentation or self laudation has made him one of the most popular citizens of Leelanaw county, with whose history he has been long and promi- nently identified. No resident of this com- munity is more deserving of honorable men- tion in this volume and it is, indeed, with pleasure that we present to our readers the record of his life.
BENJAMIN D. ASHTON, M. D.
The life of a practicing physician in the woods of Ohio fifty years ago was necessari- ly an active one. He did not have the fine roads of the present day to travel on and the comfortable, easy conveniences of mod- ern times were not known then. The phy- sicians of those days, visiting their patients, traveled on horseback and the road in most
instances was a mere bridlepath. Condi- tions eight or ten years later in Grand Trav- erse county were not greatly improved over those in Ohio. The subject of this review, Dr. Benjamin D. Ashton, a retired physi- cian of Traverse City, is very familiar with the conditions which existed both in Ohio and Michigan in the early days and could give many an interesting reminiscence of pioneer life in both states.
Dr. Benjamin D. Ashton was born in Clermont county, Ohio, September 15, 1828. His father was Thomas H. Ashton, a farmer, who was a native of Pennsylvania, born in Bucks county in 1797. The family moved to Ohio in 1808 and settled in Cler- mont county, where Thomas H. Ashton grew to manhood. The mother of the sub- ject was Elizabeth (Cramer) Ashton, who was born in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1800. While she was yet in her childhood the fam- ily moved to Clermont county, Ohio, and there she was reared and grew to woman- hood. In 1819 Thomas H. Ashton and Elizabeth Cramer became husband and wife and to this union a number of children were born, only four of whom, however, grew to maturity. Rachael, the oldest child of the family, lived to be seventy-six years; Benjamin D., the subject, is now in his sev- enty-fifth year; William was in the army during the war of the Rebellion, became af- flicted with rheumatism, but never fully re- covered from it, though he lived some twenty years after the close of the war; Elizabeth F., widow of George Brechbill, is a resident of Nebraska, where her husband died, and she is now sixty-four years of age. The father of this family died in the year 1888, at the age of ninety-one years. The mother had gone to her eternal rest some
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nine years previously, having expired in the year 1879, at the age of seventy-nine years.
The early life of Benjamin D. Ashton was spent in Brown county, Ohio, to which place the family moved while he was yet a child. He was educated in the common schools, and after completing the course there entered the Franklin Institute, at Fe- licity, Ohio, where he took the regular course, graduating with honors. After leaving school he taught for a number of terms, meanwhile pursuing his studies in medicine when not employed in the school room. Later he entered the office of Dr. Edenfield, of Fayetteville, Ohio, and there continued his studies, under the direction and instruction of that doctor. He next entered the Ohio Medical College, at Cleve- land, from which institution he graduated after taking the regular course. Returning to Fayetteville, he entered into partnership with his old preceptor, Dr. Edenfield, but it continued only about six months, being ter- minated by the death of the senior member of the firm. After the death of his partner Dr. Ashton went to Defiance, Ohio, and, opening up in the practice of his profession, remained there seven years. In 1862 he came to northern Michigan, locating in Traverse City, where he has remained up to the present time. He has enjoyed an extensive practice here during all the years of his residence, but about three years ago, feeling the weight of advancing years, he determined to retire from active practice, and so has done little in his profession since.
On May 7, 1856, at Defiance, Ohio, Ben- jamin D. Ashton was united in marriage to Miss Margaret P. Lackey, a native of Ohio, born at Lebanon, Clermont county, January 19, 1839. Her parents were John and
Mary (Stites) Lackey, natives of Ohio. When their daughter Margaret was five years old the family moved to Defiance, and there Margaret was reared and grew to wo- manhood. John and Mary Lackey were the parents of two children, Charles P., who was born in 1837, was a clerk in a general store in Defiance at the breaking out of the war of the Rebellion, entered the United States service as a soldier, served during the war and until its close, and died some fifteen years ago; Margaret P., who became the wife of the subject of this review. To Dr. Ashton and wife three children were born, viz: Benjamin F., born April 27, 1857, was married, but no children were born to the union; he died in 1887, and his widow now resides in Florida : Charles W., born December 14, 1857, who is an attache of the fire department of Traverse City, mar- ried Mary A. Haviland, and they are the parents of four children, Laura E., Charles J., John D. and Herbert; Edwin L., born April 11, 1861, who is a dentist and en- gaged in active practice in Traverse City, married Eva Hobbs, and they are the par- ents of four children, Benjamin R., Frank E., Seth H. and Clarence. Mrs. Ashton died September 3, 1892.
In politics Dr. Ashton was an old-line Whig, Free-soiler, and a Republican from the first organization of that party. He is still deeply interested in the success of Re- publican principles. He held the office of pension examiner nearly all of the time since the close of the war. In 1887-8 he repre- sented Grand Traverse county in the lower house of the state legislature, having been elected at the presidential election of 1886, In religion he is a sincere Christian, but be- longs to no religious denomination, al-
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though nearly all his life he has affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church. He belongs to but one fraternal order, that of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he has been an active member since 1850. His life has been an active and a useful one, whose good works will live long after he has passed away. He is living a quiet retired life in the family of his son, Dr. Edwin L. Ashton, in his pleasant home on Cass street.
DAVID E. WYNKOOP.
He of whom this brief sketch is written is a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of Grand Traverse county, where he has passed practically his entire life, and he is one of the successful and prominent citizens of Traverse City, having attained prosperity through his own well- directed efforts. He has done much to fur- ther the upbuilding and material prosperity of the city, is alert and progressive and pub- lic-spirited, and is in every sense eligible for specific recognition in a publication of the province assigned to the one at hand.
Mr. Wynkoop is a native of the state of Illinois, having been born in Sycamore, De- Kalb county, on the 8th of August, 1860. His father, Thomas M. Wynkoop, was born in Dallas, Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, on the 22d of April, 1820, and when he was about nine years of age his parents removed to Lockport, Niagara county, New York, where he was reared to maturity, his educa- tional privileges being such as were afforded by the common schools of the locality and period. In that city, in May, 1848, was sol-
emnized his marriage to Miss Betsey R. Kingsley, who was born May 31, 1832, near Rochester, New York, where she was reared and educated. In 1854 Mr. and Mrs. Wyn- koop removed to Sycamore, Illinois, where he was identified with agricultural pursuits until 1864, when he came to Grand Trav- erse county, becoming one of its earliest pioneers. He made the first homestead en- try of land in Paradise township, in whose organization he took a prominent part, having personally given the township its name. He was supervisor of the township for a number of years and became one of the most honored and influential citizens of this section. He continued to reside in Kingsley until his death, which occurred on the 10th of September, 1901. His wife passed away on the 30th of May, 1879. They became the parents of three children, of whom the sub- ject of this sketch was the first born, the other two being Adonis, who married Miss Mary Stevenson, who has borne him three children, and he is now engaged in the gen- eral merchandise business at Cedar Run, this county; and Verna, who became 'the wife of William Schwander, a farmer of Al- legan county, this state, died. there, in March, 1886, leaving one child, Maud, who is now sixteen years of age. Thomas M. Wynkoop cleared and improved a farm in this county and was a man of fine ability and impregnable integrity, being a type of that sturdy element of citizenship which brought about the magnificent development of this favored section of the Peninsular state.
David E. Wynkoop was but four years of age at the time of his parents' removal to Grand Traverse county, and his boyhood days were passed on the pioneer farm near
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WYNKOOP FLATS.
MR. AND MRS. D. E. WYNKOOP.
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Kingsley, while his preliminary educational discipline was received in the district schools, after which he completed the full course of three years in the Traverse City high school, this being before the days of formal graduation honors in the public " schools, so that he was denied the dignity of receiving the ribbon-bedecked diploma of the latter days. After leaving the high school Mr. Wynkoop put his scholastic ac- quirements to practical test by becoming a teacher in the district schools of the county, devoting his attention to pedagogic work for three years and proving a successful and popular teacher.
On the 28th of December, 1881, at Monroe Center, this county, Mr. Wynkoop was united in marriage to Miss Carrie Jen- nee, who was born near the city of Detroit, Michigan, on the 31st of July, 1859, being a daughter of Isaac and Lucia (Weight- man) Jennee, the former of whom was born and reared in Scotland, whence he came to the United States in his youth. He was a valiant soldier in the Union army during the war of the Rebellion, in which he received a severe wound in the right hand, the result being that he was thereafter incapacitated for active manual labor. He engaged in farming and lumbering in Michigan and is now a resident of Virginia. His wife was a native of the dominion of Canada, and her death occurred when her daughter Carrie, wife of the subject, was but seven years of age, and Mrs. Wynkoop then came to Mon- roe Center, this county, where she was reared in the home of her aunt, Mrs. Delilah Brownson, with whom she remained until the time of her marriage. She taught school for three years, from her eighteenth year until her marriage. She was located during
these years here and in the southern part of this state. Mr. and Mrs. Wynkoop are the parents of four children, namely : Roy A., who was born October 14, 1882, and who is now taking a post-graduate course in the Traverse City high school, in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1901 ; Ralph W., who was born September 13, 1884, and who is a member of the high school class of 1901 ; Dollie, who was born August 12, 1886, and who likewise is a student in the high school in the same grade with Ralph; and Vera, who was born July 29, 1888, and who is attending the city schools. All of the children are diligent and appreciative students and are making the most of the opportunities afforded them, being well advanced in their studies.
After his marriage Mr. Wynkoop con- tinued to teach in the district school for one term, at the expiration of which he built a residence on a piece of new land which he had purchased, in Paradise township, and there he and his wife took up their abode. On this place he continued to reside for four years, cutting the timber and selling the same and also placing the land under culti- vation as rapidly as possible. He had cleared about twenty-five acres of the tract within the interval noted, and he then re- moved to the village of Kingsley, though he still retains possession of his farm, which is being further improved under his direc- tion and which is now one of the valuable places of the county, the same comprising one hundred and eighty acres. He operated a planing-mill in Kingsley for one year and then established himself in the hardware business in that village, continuing to be successfully engaged in this line of enter- prise for twelve years, at the expiration of
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which, on the Ist of January, 1900, he dis- posed of the stock and business. He then passed a year in the state of Oregon and upon his return to Grand Traverse county he took up his residence in Traverse City. Here he purchased vacant lots on the corner of Park and Washington streets, and there erected a substantial and commodious three- story brick building, of modern architectural design and equipment, the same being divided into flats and single roms and being known as Park Terrace. Aside from the ground the cost of the building aggregated eight thousand dollars, and it is one of the attractive structures of the city. Immedi- ately adjoining this building Mr. Wynkoop owns five large and attractive residence properties, which he rents at a good figure, while he also owns four other houses in the city, while in Kingsley he erected, in 1901, a two-story brick business block, which he still owns, together with two good dwelling houses in the village, so that he derives a good income from his rentals, his real-estate interests and capitalistic investments in other lines placing demands upon the greater portion of his time and attention.
In his political allegiance Mr. Wynkoop gives his support to the Republican party, of which his father was an ardent advocate, and he identified himself with the "silver" wing of the party at the time of the late agi- tation of the monetary issue, thus showing the courage of his convictions, for he is dis- tinctly individual and self-reliant, endowed with a high order of intellectuality, a student of the questions and issues of the hour, and is thus able to form his own opinions and to fortify them effectually. He is liberal in his religious views, having a deep respect for the spiritual truths and considering the Gold-
en Rule a safe and worthy code and creed. Fraternally he is identified with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, of which he has been a member for twenty-one years and in which he has passed the various offi- cial chairs, while he also holds membership in the Knights of Pythias and the Knights of the Maccabees. He is a member of the directorate of the Farmers' Mutual Insur- ance Company of Grand Traverse County.
THOMAS T. BATES.
The two most strongly marked char- acteristics of both the east and the west are combined in the residents of the section of country of which this volume treats. The enthusiastic enterprise which overleaps all obstacles and makes possible almost any un- dertaking in the comparatively new and vig- orous western states is here tempered by the stable and more careful policy that we have borrowed from our eastern neighbors, and the combination is one of peculiar force and power. It has been the means of plac- ing this section of the country on a par with the older east, at the same time producing a reliability and certainty in business affairs which is frequently lacking in the west. This happy combination of characteristics is possessed by the subject of this brief sketch, Thomas Tomlinson Bates, of Trav- erse City, Michigan, who was born Decem- ber 13, 1841, at Keeseville, Essex county, New York. His father was Rev. Merritt Bates and his mother Eliza A. Tomlinson, both being of English ancestry. The fa- ther was a Methodist Episcopal clergyman, and an active and uncompromising anti-
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