HISTORY OF MONTCALM COUNTY, MICHIGAN
Its People, Industries and Institutions
BY JOHN W. DASEF, VOLUME II, 1916 B.F.
BOWEN & COMPANY , Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana.
Thomas D. Davis
William F. Davis
Warren G. Griswold
John H. Wandel
No history of Montcalm
county would be complete without fitting mention of the life and services
of the late Thomas D. Davis, one of the pioneers of Bloomer township, this
county, an honored veteran of the Civil War and for years one of the
leaders in the life of the community in which the best part of his life
was lived. He became a resident of Bloomer township in 1859, making his
home in what was then a forest wilderness, and lived to see that section
develop from its primeval state to a state of high cultivation, with a
proper and well-established social order, and in the good work of bringing
about these latter conditions played no inconspicuous part. His widow, who
still survives him, was a faithful and helpful pioneer wife and mother and
retains the most vivid recollections of the hard years through which the
pioneers passed during the period in which the forests were being cleared
that the land might be rendered habitable.
Thomas D. Davis was born in
the stale of Pennsylvania in I826, son of Aaron and Elmira (Baker} Davis.
While he was yet a small boy his parents moved to Attica, New York, and
there he grew to manhood. He married in ~849 and for ten years thereafter
was engaged in farming in the Attica neighborhood. In 1859 he and his
little family came to Montcalm county to make a new home in the forest,
the promising possibilities of this region at that time beginning to
impress the people of the East. Mr. Davis bought two adjoining forty-acre
tracts in the northeast quarter of section 10 in Bloomer township and,
cutting a small clearing in the woods about eighty rods back from the
trail which led through that section, erected a small house of logs and
there made his first home. At that time there were no established roads
through the forest, the pioneers having followed a mere "blazed"
trail through the woods nearly all the way from Pewamo. William Davis, a
brother of Thomas D. had settled here a year or two before and had already
had his home set up on the tract now occupied by William Davis, son of
Thomas D., hence the newcomers were not wholly "strangers in a
strange land." Notwithstanding this advantage of kinship with an even
earlier pioneer, however, the outlook was not encouraging and it
was with no small misgiving that Mr. Davis entered upon his new
responsibilities. The expense of the trip out here had exhausted
practically all his ready cash and when he arrived here with his wife and
five small children he had but five dollars in money and no house in which
to shelter his family. For the moment he was so disheartened by the bleak
prospect then presented that he gladly would have returned to New York if
he had had the money for the return trip, but his wife, with the fine
courage of the true pioneer, looked forward to the home they should have
when the land should be cleared and the country settled and they proceeded
hopefully to build their home and were fairly well established when the
Civil War broke out. In I864 Thomas D. Davis enlisted for service in
behalf of the Union in Company C, Third Regiment, Michigan Volunteer
Infantry, and was in the service until some time after the war closed,
receiving his discharge in September, 1865, having been confined to a
hospital for two or three months previously. Upon returning from the army
he bought a forty-acre tract from his brother, on which there was a house
near the road, the place where William Davis now lives, and there he made
his home until shortly before his death, when he moved into Carson City,
where he died in 1900. Thomas
D. Davis was a. man of earnest Christian character, for many years a
deacon in the Baptist church and active in all good works; a good citizen
who had done faithfully his part in the work of bringing about proper
conditions in the neighborhood of his home.
In 1849 Thomas D. Davis was
united in marriage, near Attica, New York, to Caroline Crawford, who was
born at Brighton, near the city of Rochester, New York, in 1831, daughter
of Daniel and Mary (Fuller) Crawford, and who is now living in this county
at the advanced age of eighty-five, still in vigorous physical condition,
as active and alert as most women twenty years her junior. Daniel Crawford
was a descendant of Scottish Presbyterians who sought refuge in the north
of Ireland during the days of the persecution of those of their faith on
the other side of the Irish Sea, one of the earlier descendants of whom,
John Crawford, born in County Tyrone, Ireland, died in that county in
1773. His son, John, born in Poundridge, Ireland, in 1776, came to America
and married Parthenia Lyon, who was born in Bedford. Massachusetts. He
died in Saratoga, New York, in 1831. John Crawford. the 'founder of that
branch of the Crawford family in this country, was a man of strong and
vigorous character and was noted for his invariable kindness of heart. His son, Daniel Crawford, was born at Saratoga, New York, on
January 19, 1802, married
Mary Fuller and lived near Rochester, where, during the early years of his
married life, he was engaged as a brick-maker and later became a
substantial farmer. His wife, Mary Fuller, was born at East Bloomington,
New York, in 1811, and both she and her husband died at West Bethany, in
that state. Their daughter, Caroline, lived near Attica until her marriage
to Mr. Davis.
To Thomas D. and Caroline
(Crawford) Davis eleven children were born, two of whom died in infancy,
Jane, at the age of eight; Mary, at the age of eleven; Frank and Munroe,
at the ages of thirty-one and twenty-nine, respectively, of typhoid fever
in 1879, and George, in 1895, leaving a widow, Myrtle (Sperry) Davis, and
four children. Of the surviving children, Emily, widow of Thomas F.
Fuller, whose family history is given on another page in this volume, is
living on the Fuller farm one mile west and a half mile north of the old
Davis farm in Bloomer township, and her aged mother is making her home
with her; Charles lives near Butternut; Emmett lives in Sheridan; William
lives on the old homestead.
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WILLIAM F. DAVIS
pg. 358-359
William F. Davis, a
well-known resident of the Carson City neighborhood, a progressive farmer
of Bloomer township, this county, living one and one-half miles west
and three-fourths of a mile north of Carson City, is a native of New York,
having been born near the city of Batavia, that state, on July 4, 1857, son
of Thomas D. and Caroline (Crawford) Davis, pioneers of Montcalm county, of
whom further mention is made in a biographical sketch relating to the
former, presented eIsewhere in this volume..
William F. Davis was not two
years of age when his parents came to this county and he consequently has
been a witness of the wonderful developmerit that has been made in this
region within a single generation of mankind. He grew up amid the primitive
conditions which the pioneers hereabout were compelled to face, attending
the rude district school of his home neighborhood in the days of his youth
and aided his father in the development of the home place. As a young man
he spent a year and six months in Dakota, at the end of which time he
returned home and in 1889 married a neighbor girl and engaged in farming on
his own account. For about fifteen years after his marriage, Mr. Davis
lived on a farm just south of the Grand Trunk railroad, one and one-half
miles west of Carson City, and then moved to the old homestead farm, just
north of the railroad, where ever since has made his home. In addition to
the eighty acres in that tract, which he now owns, he is also
farming an adjoining eighty and is doing well, being regarded as one of the
substantial farmers of that neighborhood.
In the fall of 1889
William F. Davis was united in marriage to Frances R. Fuller, who was born
in Steuben county. New York, daughter of Thomas F. and Amanda L. (Schuyler)
Fuller, pioneers of this county, further mention of whom is made in a
biographical sketch of Thomas F. Fuller, presented elsewhere in this
volume. Frances
Fuller came to this county with her parents about 1860 and spent her early
years on a farm just south of the railroad from her present home. Her
mother died in the spring of 1864, after which her father, with his two
children, herself and her brother, Scott, returned to New York state, where
they lived for about two years, at the end of which time they returned to
their home in this county and later Frances Fuller lived for some time in
South Dakota.
To William F. and Frances R.
(Fuller) Davis two children have been born, Winnie Eula, who was graduated
from the high school at Carson City, after which she attended Ferris
Institute and is now teaching school in this county, and Ruth H., who is a
student in the high school at Carson City. Mr. and Mrs. Davis and their
daughters are members of the Methodist church and take a proper part in all
the good wokks of the neighborhood in which they live, the family being
held in high regard thereabout.
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Warren G. Griswold, a
veteran of the Civil War and a prosperous retired farmer, now living in comfort
at his pleasant home in the village of Crystal, this county, is a native-born
son of Michigan, having been born at Novi, in Oakland county, this state,
February 22, 1849, son Of Warren B. and Phoebe Ann (Holt) Griswold, the former a
native of Vermont and the latter of New York state, who, in the early fifties,
moved from Oakland county to Ionia county, where Warren B. Griswold traded a
yoke of cattle for twenty acres of land and proceeded to make a new home in the
forest wilderness, and there he spent the rest of his life, his death occurring
in I874. His wife died in 1861, their son, Warren G., the subject of this
sketch, then being twelve years of age.
In October, 1864, he then
being fifteen years of age, Warren G. Griswold enlisted in Company C, Third
Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry,and saw service in Tennessee and Texas,
being mustered out at San Antonio, Texas, on February 10, 1866. Upon the
completion of his military experience Mr. Griswold returned home and resumed his
place on his father's farm. The next spring he married and for a number of years
was engaged as a timberman and general farmer. In 1879 he began farming for
himself, having bought a small place two miles south and one mile west of the
village of Crystal, in this county. He did well and gradually added to his
holdings there until at the time of his retirement from the farm in February,
1915, he was the owner of one hundred and twenty acres, more than one hundred of
which had been cleared and was under cultivation. He sold the place to his son,
Lyman, and bought a home in the village of Crystal, where he and his wife are
now living in comfortable retirement. Mr. Griswold is an earnest Republican and
for years has given thoughtful attention to civic affairs. He has served the
public in the capacity of drain commissioner and was also highway commissioner
for Crystal township for some years. He is a member of the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows and of the Grand Army of the Republic and takes an active interest
in the affairs of those organizations.
On March 21, 1867, Warren
G. Griswold was united in marriage to Elvira Rockwell, who was born in Crawford
county, Pennsylvania, August 21, 1850, daughter of Charles and Almeda (Millard)
Rockwell, the former a native of Pennsylvania and the latter of New York state,
who came to this county in October, 1857, and bought a farm southwest of
Crystal, where Mr. and Mrs. Griswold for years made their home and where their
son is now living. When the Rockwells settled here there was only a trail
leading through the deep timber and Mrs. Griswold has seen the development of
Crystal township from the very beginning of the establishment of a social order
thereabout, she being acknowledged to be the only person now living for miles
about who has been a resident of that section as long as she. March 21, I917,
will be the fiftieth anniversary of the marriage date of Mr. and Mrs. Griswold.
To them ten children have been born and they have thirty-two grandchildren and
one great-grandchild, Donna, daughter of Truman Rolfe. Of the ten children born
to Mr. and Mrs. Griswold five are still living, five having died when quite
young, three, Erwin, Clinton and Raymond, having died within a week of each
other of a combination of scarlet fever and diphtheria, the youngest less than a
year old and the
eldest not quite five years of age; Franklin Charles, their firstborn child,
died at the age of two years and six months, and Wesley, the third in order of
birth, a few days before his fifth birthday, in February, 1880. The living
children, in the order of their birth, are as follow: Estella, widow of Watson
Rolfe, is living at Crystal and has eight children, Harley L., Ernest W., Leo,
Truman, Leslie, Hazel, Lucille and Dale; Bertha, wife of Daniel Kidder, lives
near the town of Muir, in Ionia county, and has eight children, Clifford,
Nettie, Grace, Claire, Donald, Raymond, Marion and Frank; Ina, wife of Perry
Blount, living two and one-half miles southwest of Crystal, has five childrem
Alta, Ford, Floyd, Dorothy and Joyce Elaine; Lyman, who bought the old home
farm, where he now makes his home, married Ina Rickard and has five children.
Beatrice, Lyle, Warren, Cecil and Beulah, living, and two dead, and Eli, living
near Muir, in Ionia county, who married Edith Dudhope and has six children,
Elsie. Elton, Elbert, Eula, Elmer and
Eunice.
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John H. Wandel, Cato township,
Montcalm county, was born on September 20, 1862, on a farm which is now part
of his homestead, being the eldest of the five children of john Adam and
Martha M. (Meyers) Wandel and the only one of the family still residing in
Cato township. Martha (Meyers) Wandel was a native
of Bavaria, in the German empire, and was brought to this state by her
mother when a child of three years, the father having died in their native
land. The mother located in Jefferson county, Wisconsin, and there
Martha grew to womanhood and lived until the time of her marriage.
John Adam Wandel was a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, and when young
mastered the weaver's trade, which he followed until thirty years of
age. When thirty-eight years old he emigrated to America, locating for
a time in Ohio and later going to Wisconsin. However, he did not
settle permanently until he reached Cato township, Montcalm county, in
October, 1860. Here he pre-empted forth acres of government land in
section 22, and made his home there for the balance of his life, owning
eighty acres in all at the time of his death. John Adam Wandel was one
of the first settlers in Cato township, which had been organized just before
he came here and there were but eleven white families in all. Shortly
afterward, on March 18, 1861, he was married in Wisconsin to Martha Meyers,
as above stated, and this became their permanent home. There were five
children born to their union, those other than John H., being Frances R.,
wife of Charles Bremer; James W., deceased; Harriet L., wife of Henry Lanely
and George A.
John H. Wandel received but the
limited education the school facilities of this section at that time
afforded and from early boyhood, assisted in the farm work. He
remained at home and after his father's death in 1884, he purchased, in
1885, the interests of the other heirs and has continued to make his home on
the old family homestead. He has purchased additional land from time
to time and he now owns two hundred and sixty-seven acres, located in
sections 21 and 22. The commodious family residence was erected in
1907 and since that time Mr. Wandel has erected a large and modern
barn. He divides his attention between general farming and the raising
of live stock. John H. Wandel has been twice married, his
first wife, with whom he was united in marriage on November 2, 1884, was
Lillian G. Ward, born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, a daughter of Walter and
Jane (Baker) Ward. To this union were born four children, one of whom
died in infancy, three remaining at the time of the mother's death on
November 4, 1895. These were Henry M., Raymond W. and John A., but the
death of Raymond occurred but twenty days after that of the mother, both
being caused by typhoid fever, of which there was an epidemic at that
time. On December 23, 1897, John H. Wandel was again married, his
bride being Rhoda L. Bradley, born in Greenville, Montcalm county. She
is a daughter of John and Eliza (Goodwell) Bradley, natives of England and
Canada respectively. To Mr. Wandel and his second wife have been born
four children, namely: Ruth and Ellen, both deceased; Stanley B. and
Irene.
Mr. Wandel is a man of genial
disposition, having many friends and greatly enjoying the sport of
hunting. He rarely allows a year to pass without spending at least a
week in the Northern Peninsula after deer, and he has in his home some
excellent heads as trophies of his skill. He keeps well posted on
current events and is a good conversationalist, being especially fond of
discussing historical subjects, in which study he has always been
interested. Mr. Wandel calls himself a Republican, but is practically
independent in voting as a rule, and has never sought public office.
His wife is a most excellent woman and their home dispenses sincere
cordiality to friend and transient guest, alike.
Submitted by: MargHough@aol.com
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