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HON. TOWNSEND A. ELY, State Senator from the Nineteenth Senatorial
District, a leading business man, the son of a veteran officer of the
Civil war twice brevetted for bravery, and himself a gallant young officer
in that struggle, is a splendid representative of Gratiot county, both
politically and in every other particular. He was born August 27, 1843,
at Wabash, Indiana, the only son of General Ralph and Mary E. (Halstead)
Ely, and grandson of Armenius and Electa (Munger) Ely, natives of New
York.
After their marriage the grandparents of Townsend A. Ely settled in Oneida
county, New York, where they remained but a few years before removing
to Chautauqua county. There Armenius Ely was a farmer and a dairyman until
the year of his death, in 1863; his wife passed away in 1836. The children
of Armenius and Electa Ely who lived to mature age were: Lucy, Ralph,
Derwin and Flavius.
Until he was nineteen years old Ralph Ely attended the common schools,
assisting his father on the farm in the summer months. In 1839 he left
home and settled on a government claim in Wabash, Indiana. Later he sold
the tract, returned to Chautauqua county, spent two years on his father's
farm, and in 1846 purchased 320 acres of land in Ionia county, Michigan.
There he resided seven and one-half years, selling the place in 1854 to
settle in Arcada township, Gratiot county, where he purchased a quarter
section of land for a homestead, which is now embraced by the site of
the flourishing city of Alma. His family constituted the first settlers
on the north side of Pine river, he himself building a log house, platting
the original village and, by personal participation and encouragement,
furthering in every way the advancement of the place, He erected the first
saw and grist mills at that point, and continued to be engaged in lumbering
and farming operations until the outbreak of the Civil war. On the second
call for troops he raised a company of soldiers, and upon its organization,
August 12, 1861, was made captain; his company was known as C, Eighth
Regiment, Michigan Volunteer Infantry. On the 21st of the same month the
regiment went to Grand Rapids, being mustered into the service of the
United States on the 23rd of September. On the 10th of November it went
into camp with the other regiments of Sherman's brigade. The regiment
took part in about forty notable engagements of the Civil war and was
certain to be detailed for especially hard duty, receiving therefor the
appellation of "the Wandering Regiment."
Captain Ely was wounded June 16, 1862, at Secessionville, South Carolina,
the action of the day being better known as James Island. Major Watson
resigned his position September 10, 1862, and the same day Captain Ely
was promoted to that rank. Fourteen days later he was in command of the
regiment, Colonel Fenton having charge of the brigade. Lieutenant- Colonel
Graves then resigned his post, on February 1, 1863, and Major Ely was
commissioned to the vacancy, and when Colonel Graves was killed May 6,
1864, at the battle of the Wilderness, Lieutenant-Colonel Ely was made
brevet colonel, United States Volunteers, his commission to date from
July 6, 1864, for "gallant and meritorious services at the battle
of the Wilderness, Virginia." He was afterward commissioned Colonel,
to rank from May 7, 1864, the day following the action for which he was
brevetted. On April 2, 1865, he was promoted to be brigadier general,
United States Volunteers, by brevet, for "conspicuous gallantry before
Petersburg, Virginia." He remained in the service until after the
close of the war, and was mustered out May 19, 1866.
After the war General Ely received the appointment of superintendent of
the Freedman's Bureau in South Carolina, and also engaged for a time in
settling freedmen on government lands in Florida. He purchased 130 acres
of land near Jacksonville, about one hundred miles south of that city,
and spent one year in setting out an orange grove. The second year all
the young trees were killed by the frost and he returned to Gratiot county,
Michigan, in 1869, to engage again in farming and lumbering. In 1873 he
was elected senator from the Twenty-sixth District, and in the fall of
1874 was chosen auditor general of Michigan, being re- elected to the
latter office in 1876. In the fall of 1879 he located in Emmet county,
where he engaged extensively in lumbering until his death, April 14, 1883.
He was buried at Cross Village, but in February, 1884, his remains were
brought to Alma and re-interred. His wife. the mother of Townsend A. Ely,
resided in the village continuously from 1854 until the date of her death,
August 28, 1905.
On September 22, 1842, General Ely married, in Brookville, Franklin county,
Indiana, Miss Mary E. Halstead, who was born February 16, 1823, in Waterloo,
Seneca county, New York, the fifth daughter of Elisha O. and Phebe M.
(Woodworth) Halstead. Her parents were natives, respectively, of New Jersey
and New York, Mr. Halstead dying in Cincinnati, Ohio, on December 24,
1876, and Mrs. Halstead, while on a visit to her children in Gratiot county,
July 16, 1875. Six children were born to General and Mrs. Ely, as follows:
Townsend A.; Louise A., married to W. S. Turck, a banker of Alma, Michigan;
Electa, wife of Henry Brubaker, an Alma (Michigan) farmer; Josephine E.,
Mrs. G. S. Ward, whose husband is a bookkeeper at Alma; Lucy L., deceased,
Mrs. C. H. Coats, who resided in Buffalo, New York; and Kate E., wife
of George A. Royce, an accountant of Hancock, Michigan.
When seventeen years of age Townsend A. Ely assumed charge of the home
farm, his father having enlisted in the army, and he continued to manage
it, as well as his father's business interests, until nearly the close
of the war. In February, 1865, he enlisted in the Eighth Michigan Infantry,
sergeant of Company C, and was made second lieutenant April 25, 1865.
He remained in the service until August 14, 1865, and was under fire at
Fort Steadman and before Petersburg. He received his honorable discharge
at Detroit, Michigan.
At the age of twenty-three years, Mr. Ely embarked on an independent career,
purchasing a tract of 240 acres of land in Arcada township, to which he
afterward added 100 acres. Thus he continued three years, and then sold
his property to accept the position of mail messenger between St. Louis
and Saginaw, and in that capacity he was engaged two years and nine months,
after which he became a conductor on the Saginaw Valley & St. Louis
railroad. After holding that position for three years and three months
he resigned to establish himself in the hardware business at Alma,. One
year later he disposed of his store and was appointed postmaster at Alma,
succeeding to the place August 6, 1881, by appointment under Postmaster-General
James, and serving for a period of four years, later being appointed by
President Harrison and holding the office for a like term. His entire
incumbency was marked by prompt service, business-like management and
administrative ability.
In his political affiliations Mr. Ely is firmly Republican, having never
deviated in his loyal support of the party. In November, 1904, he was
elected State Senator from the Nineteenth Senatorial District, which office
he still holds.
Senator Ely was married at Alma, September 25, 1866, to Miss Maggie C.
Chapin, born at Chicago, Illinois, June 27, 1845, daughter of DeWitt C.
and Edna F. (Utley) Chapin, and of this union there is one son, Ralph
C., born March 5, 1870.
DAVID H. McLAUGHLIN, ex-justice of the peace of Seville township,
is one of Gratiot county's energetic and public spirited men, and has
spent the greater part of his life in this section, engaged in lumbering
and farming. He was born in Pittsfield, Washtenaw county, Michigan, October
23, 1846, son of Thomas and Bridget (Hines) McLaughlin, both natives of
Ireland, the former of whom died in Washtenaw county, while the latter
passed away in Isabella county, Michigan. They had seven children, and
of this family our subject was the third member.
David H. McLaughlin was reared in Washtenaw county, where he remained
until about seventeen years old. He then located in Gratiot county, where
for about a year he worked out, then settling on the farm which he now
occupies. He purchased 120 acres of wild land, upon which he has erected
good buildings, and has added forty acres to the original tract, making
in all a farm of 160 acres, of which 135 acres are cleared.
Judge McLaughlin was married in Gratiot county, July 1, 1867, to Miss
Bridget Battle, who died in Seville township, April 12, 1895, the mother
of eight children: Franklin, John, Andrew, Celia (the wife of John Duffy),
James, Daniel, Charles and Nathaniel. Of the above family John died, September
26, 1901, aged twenty-six years. David H. McLaughlin was again married,
February 22, 1898, to Mrs. Mary Lentz Hagon, widow of Theodore Hagon.
Mr. McLaughlin held the office of justice of the peace of Seville township
for twenty-four years, sixteen years of that time in succession. He has
taken an active part in all township affairs and has always been identified
with the Democratic party. He has been a member of the Catholic Church
ever since coming to Seville township in 1864. For some twenty seasons
during the winter months Mr. McLaughlin worked at lumbering in the woods.
Farming, however, has been his chief occupation in life, and at this he
has become very successful, acquiring a handsome competency. For seven
years Mr. McLaughlin also operated a threshing machine. At one time he
took up a homestead in the Upper Peninsula, in Ontonagon county, but this
he sold after having improved it.
GEORGE RILEY ALDRICH, former
supervisor of Lafayette township, has been a leader in both the agricultural
and political interests of that section. He was born in Oakland county,
Michigan, November 29, 1854, son of George W. and Martha A. (Sturgis)
Aldrich, natives of Michigan, who came to Gratiot county in the spring
of 1865 and settled in Lafayette township, where they lived for many years;
then spent a short time in Ithaca, and later settled in Hamilton township,
where they now reside. George R. Aldrich is the eldest in a family of
eight children.
George W. Aldrich, the father, is a son of Asquar and Betsy (Tarbell)
Aldrich, natives of Vermont and Massachusetts, respectively. He was born
May 27, 1828, at Detroit, and was married August 16, 1853, to Martha A.
Sturgis, born April 4, 1836, a daughter of Benjamin and Caroline (Olmstead)
Sturgis. Mr. and Mrs. Aldrich began housekeeping in Oakland county, where
the husband was engaged in farming for a year and a half. They then lived
two years in Livingston county, and a short time in Shiawassee, Genesee
and Clinton counties, and later located in Lafayette, Gratiot county.
Mr. Aldrich served one year during the Civil War, enlisting in Company
D, Sixth Cavalry, September 6, 1862, and was discharged August 29, 1863,
at "Convalescent Camp," near Alexandria, Virginia. He has been
township clerk, highway commissioner, special commissioner and justice
of the peace, and has held various school offices. Fraternally he is connected
with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is a valued comrade of
the Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. and Mrs. Aldrich had a family of eight
children; George R.; Anna D., Mrs. Charles Green, whose husband is a farmer
of Lafayette township; Ira B., a Saginaw county farmer; Emma J., wife
of C. A. Thomas, a farmer living in Lafayette township; Nora B., Mrs.
Joseph Turner, wife also of a Lafayette township agriculturist; R. T.,
a farmer of Saginaw county; Charles E.; and Robert G., who died in Lafayette
township July 23, 1880.
George Riley Aldrich came to Gratiot county with his parents in the spring
of 1865, and has been a resident of Lafayette township since that time,
with the exception of one year, when he lived with his parents in Elsie,
Michigan. He has always been engaged in agriculture, in which he has enjoyed
unusual prosperity. He owns 320 acres of farm land, nearly all of which
is under cultivation, and which, with his valuable building improvements,
constitutes one of the finest pieces of property in that section of Gratiot
county.
George Riley Aldrich and Miss Olive A. Thomas were united in marriage,
January 1, 1879 in Lafayette township. She was born in that township,
the estimable daughter of David Thomas, a very highly respected citizen
and one of its earliest settlers, being one of the thirteen men who organized
the township, and prominent it its public affairs. Mrs. Aldrich's mother
was Ann (Maples) Thomas, who still survives. Mr. and Mrs. Aldrich have
had these children: Martha A., Emma V., Irvin R., Olive B., Cyrus G.,
George D., Bert, Dewey, Gordon and Arthur J., all living, and one child
who died in infancy.
Mr. Aldrich has held the office of justice of the peace for four years,
and that of township treasurer three years. He was supervisor four years,
and has held. many minor offices in both county and township. He is prominently
identified with the Republican party. Fraternally he affiliates with the
I.O.O.F. and the K.O.T.M.M. Mr. Aldrich is highly regarded throughout
Lafayette township, and his knowledge of agricultural matters is thorough,
broad and practical. He has many warm friends who, without envy, applaud
his business success and his social and political prestige.
BAYARD A. CHURCH, cashier of the Gratiot County State Bank, at
St. Louis, Michigan, and a successful promoter, as well as a substantial
supporter of several of the city's most flourishing industries, was born
on a farm near Naples, Maine, November 10, 1865, a son of John M. and
Cordelia A. (Hasty) Church. The mother of Mr. Church was a native of Portland,
Maine. For a number of years before coming to Michigan, in 1873, the father
was deputy sheriff of his county and a man of firm and high standing in
the public esteem. He first settled at Elsie, and in 1876 located in St.
Louis, building a sawmill on the site now occupied by the chemical works,
and operating it for a number of years. Subsequently he engaged in a grocery
business and for about three years prior to the administration of President
Cleveland was postmaster of the city. John M. Church and wife had three
children, one son and two daughters.
A.Bayard Church, the eldest of the family, accompanied his parents to
Elsie and to St. Louis, the latter having been his home since 1876, with
the exception of two years which he spent in travel in the West. Even
when a boy he was his father's "right hand man," assisting him
in his mill, in his grocery store and in the postoffice, giving his services
to the government work, out of school hours, quite constantly from 1881
to 1884. In the latter year he graduated with the first class of the St.
Louis high school, and has ever since taken a prominent part in the doings
of the Alumni Association as well as in the general progress of the city
schools. During 1885 he was assistant postmaster under Rev. Theodore Nelson
and practically had charge of the office.
After leaving the post office Mr. Church took a trip South, spending one
winter in Florida, and upon his return in 1886 he entered the employ of
F. G. Kneeland in the Bank of St. Louis, which was a private institution.
After serving as a clerk there for three years he resigned his position,
and during 1889 and 1890 traveled through the West.
On January 1, 1891, Mr. Church became a clerk in the First National Bank
at St. Louis, a position he filled until December 13, 1898. During that
period the business was reorganized, the First National becoming the Gratiot
County State Bank, and on the above date he became cashier. He thus became,
in many respects, the leading executive officer of an institution which
has passed triumphantly through not a few financial crises in the history
of the country and stanchly supported the business and industrial interests
of this section of the State. It was organized in 1870 as a private bank
by Hon. A. B. Darragh. Known for the first three years as the Gratiot
County Bank, its business thereafter until 1884 was conducted under the
name of Darragh & Co., bankers. It was then organized as the First
National Bank, with A. B. Darragh as cashier, and in July, 1897, reorganized
as the Gratiot County State Bank with Mr. Darragh cashier, and F. M. Thedgar,
assistant cashier; capital stock, $25,000. Mr. Darragh soon succeeded
to the presidency, a position which he still holds, B. A. Church becoming
cashier.
Mr. Church's long connection with this bank has made him well known to
almost every capitalist in Gratiot county. As a financier he stands high,
while his personal character has gained him the confidence of all who
have dealings with this old and well established institution. He is identified
with the city's leading interests and is the only resident director of
the St. Louis Sugar Company, the largest business enterprise of the city.
It was largely through his exertions and influence that the plant was
located in St. Louis. The works, which are equipped with the most modern
machinery, are valued at $500,000 and rank with the best in the State.
They employ one hundred and fifty men, disburse $60,000 annually in wages,
and buy $200,000 worth of raw material from the producers of sugar beets.
These facts prove their importance as an element in the prosperity of
St. Louis and Gratiot county, and redound directly to the credit of Bayard
A. Church.
Politically Mr. Church is identified with the Republican party, and has
always taken a deep interest in political matters in Gratiot county, although
he has not found time to accept office. He is one of the leading members
of the Masonic fraternity in the State of Michigan and has been advanced
to some of its most honorable and important positions. He is past master
of St. Louis Lodge, No. 188, F. & A.M., St. Louis; past high priest
of St. Louis Chapter, No. 87, R.A.M., St. Louis; past thrice illustrious
master of St. Louis Council, No. 68, R. & S.M., St. Louis; eminent
commander of Ithaca Commandery, No. 40, K. T., Ithaca, Michigan; past
worthy patron of St. Louis Chapter, No. 144, O.E.S., St. Louis; most illustrious
grand master of the Grand Council of Michigan, and representative of the
Grand Council of California. He has attained the thirty-second degree
in Scottish Rite Masonry, and belongs to the Shrine.
Mr. Church was married March 10, 1891, to Miss Carrie M. Thedgar, who
was born February 27, 1866, in Kent county, Michigan, a daughter of John
L. and Josephine L. Thedgar. They have two children: Felix M. and Conrad
N. Mr. and Mrs. Church are members of the First Baptist Church at St.
Louis.
CASTLE JOHN CURTIS, one of the leading farmers and influential
citizens of Gratiot county, resides upon a finely cultivated and improved
farm, known as "Locust Lawn", situated in Section 1, Pine River
township. Mr. Curtis was born August 9, 1845, in Ann Arbor, Michigan,
son of John and Ann (Hill) Curtis, natives of England, who died in Ann
Arbor, leaving three children. Of these Castle J. was the eldest, the
other children being Thomas, of Lansing, Michigan; and Charlotte, widow
of Charles Gardner, of Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Mr. Curtis was reared to manhood in his home in Ann Arbor, and learned
the harness maker's trade, at which he worked four years. He then engaged
in farming for two years, at the age of twenty-one going to Pennsylvania,
where he was engaged in book canvassing for about a year and a half. He
then went to Saginaw, Michigan, and was employed by the Flint & Pere
Marquette Railroad, as fireman, for a year and a half, and as engineer
for about two years. Mr. Curtis then became connected as engineer for
the B. C. R. & N. Railroad, and after two years spent in this service
returned to the Flint & Pere Marquette, with which company he remained
five years. At the end of this period in October, 1881, he went to Gratiot
county, and bought forty acres of farm land in Section 1, Pine River township,
where he has since resided. He has erected good buildings on his farm,
and made general improvements, and his farm, besides being productive,
presents an attractive appearance and compares favorably with others in
the township.
In November, 1872, Mr. Curtis was married, at Cedar Falls, Iowa, to Miss
Ella Schuyler, a native of New York State, born in 1853, daughter of James
and Catherine (Smith) Schuyler, the former of whom died at Tiffin, Ohio,
and his wife at Washington, D.C. Mr. and Mrs. Curtis have had five children:
Charles C. married Jessie Behler; Catherine married Louis Behler and has
four children; Benjamin married Ella Callaghan, and lives at Foley, Minnesota;
Marie lives in Washington, D.C.; and Hallet, a mail agent, married Blanche
Pettey, and lives at "Locust Lawn." Mr. Curtis has actively
participated in the public affairs of Pine River township, having held
several of the school offices. Politically he is a Republican, and fraternally
is identified with the I.O.O.F., the local Grange and the Pine River Farmers'
Club.
FRED E. SMITH, the careful, conscientious treasurer of Gratiot
county, is one of the public officials whose services have met with the
universal approval of the public. He was born in Erie county, New York,
June 22, 1857, son of Horton and Adaline (Berry) Smith, natives of that
county, who came to Michigan the same year that Fred E. Smith was born
and settled on a farm in Washington township, Gratiot county, where they
are at present residing.
Fred E. Smith came to Michigan with his parents and has lived on a farm
all of his life. He was educated in the common schools of the township.
Mr. Smith served his township two years as treasurer and four as supervisor,
resigning two years ago to accept his present position. He is quiet, careful,
a watchful guardian of the people's money and in every way admirably fitted
for this important trust. During his incumbency more money has passed
through his hands than through those of any of his predecessors, yet in
the hundreds of accounts he has been required to keep, not a single cent
has been short, nothing has been neglected, nothing overlooked. The people
know this and have the utmost confidence in the safety of the funds committed
to Mr. Smith's safe-keeping. It was only by nominating a man who was not
present at the Democratic convention that anyone was found to go on the
ticket in opposition to Mr. Smith for a second term. The people are to
be congratulated on having had an opportunity to again elect so excellent
a county treasurer, and on having grasped that opportunity.
Mr. Smith was married February 17, 1901, to Miss Eva Alice Ladd, a daughter
of Ellison and Elizabeth (Largent) Ladd, and to this union two children
have been born: Kenneth H., and F. Willard. Mr. Smith is a popular member
of Pompeii Lodge No. 417, Independent Order of Odd Fellows.
ALBRO CURTIS. No history of Gratiot county would be complete without
the sketch of Albro Curtis, as perhaps no one man in his section has done
more to mold public opinion. He was born October 17, 1839, in Weathersfield,
Wyoming county, New York, son of Waterman F. and Sylvia (Cronkite) Curtis,
the former a native of Massachusetts and the latter of Vermont, who removed
from New York to Michigan in 1857 and settled in Ionia county. Here the
father died on August 2, 1861, aged fifty-five years, his wife passing
away while on a visit to friends in Illinois, on December 16, 1894, at
the age of eighty-eight years. They were the parents of eleven children,
as follows: Francis, a farmer of Emerson township; Ardelia, who died aged
twenty-two years; Elizabeth, Mrs. William Hall, of Wyoming county, New
York; Jane, wife of William Cleveland, residing in Winnebago county, Illinois;
Seneca, a farmer of Breckenridge, Michigan; Helen, widow of John Hall,
living in Wyoming county, New York; Albro; Waldo, a farmer of Breckenridge,
Michigan; Martha, Mrs. T. W. Muscott, of Emerson township; Mary, unmarried,
residing in the same township; and William, living in the State of Iowa.
The paternal grandparents of Albro Curtis were Amison and Eunice Curtis,
of Vermont, his grandfather on his mother's side being Jacob Cronkite,
a native of Germany.
Albro Curtis was the seventh in a family of eleven children, and reached
the period of youth in Wyoming county, New York, where he received his
education in the schools and on his father's farm. He was eighteen years
old when he located in Ionia county, Michigan, where he lived until February,
1862, at that time removing with his mother's family to Gratiot county.
They located on Section 12, Emerson township, where Mr. Curtis has been
a resident ever since, with the exception of the two years he was serving
his country as a soldier.
Mr. Curtis enlisted in Company A, Eighth Regiment, Michigan Volunteer
Infantry, and served gallantly with that regiment until the close of the
war. At the battle of the Wilderness he was wounded in the right arm,
and at Petersburg was slightly wounded by spent balls in the foot and
between the shoulders. He was a participant in the battle of Weldon Railroad,
and was at Lee's surrender, after which he was honorably discharged and
returned to his home in Emerson township. When he left for the front Mr.
Curtis had but ten acres of his land cleared of timber, while now he has
160 acres cleared and improved. He is the owner of 320 acres in Emerson
and Bethany townships, and his farms are highly improved and furnished
with modern substantial buildings.
Albro Curtis was married in Emerson township June 29, 1876, to Miss Lucy
L. Woodward, daughter of the late Allen Woodward, a native of New York
State, and a survivor of the Civil War. In 1861 Mr. Woodward had located
in Washtenaw county, Michigan, and in June, 1861, after the death of his
wife, Almira (Lewis), at the age of thirty-seven, he returned to New York,
settling in Erie county, whence he enlisted in the Tenth New York Cavalry.
After serving three years he returned to his home in Erie county, thence
removing to Ionia county, Michigan. In April, 1874, Allen Woodward came
with his family to Gratiot county, Michigan, and settled in Section 2,
Emerson township, where he died March 5, 1884, aged seventy-three years.
He and his wife were the parents of five children, of whom Mrs. Curtis
was the fourth, named as follows: Augusta C., deceased, Mrs. Neal D. Ford;,
deceased, Mrs. Asher Williams; Alice R., deceased, wife of Frank Cronkite;
Lucy L., Mrs. Albro Curtis; and Francis A., who died in infancy. Mr. Woodward
married as his second wife Miss Elizabeth Cronkite, who resides in Emerson
township at the age of seventy-five. Of this union there was one son,
Jesse J., a farmer of the township named. Mr. and Mrs. Albro Curtis are
the parents of three children: Blanche A.; Roy W., who married Fanny A.
Jarvis, and has one daughter, Helen O. (he is an Emerson township farmer);
and Grace A.
For a number of years Mr. Curtis has been a justice of the peace in Emerson
township, and he has also served as school director and treasurer. In
his political sympathies he is a Republican. Mr. Curtis and his estimable
wife belong to the First Baptist Church of Emerson township. He is a member
of Billy Cruson Post, No. 347, G.A.R.
CLIFTON J. CHAMBERS, county clerk of Gratiot county, resident at
Ithaca, Michigan, is a leading Republican of wide experience in public
affairs, as well as a man of thorough education, of practical ability
and of clear ideas and sound judgment. He was born in Crawford county,
Ohio, September 23, 1864, son of Aaron J. and Harriet (McKee) Chambers.
His parents were natives of the Buckeye State, where they were married
and remained until the year 1878, when they removed to North Shade township,
Gratiot county, Michigan, and soon after their arrival purchased a farm
on Section 3, upon which they resided with their family for two years.
Later they moved to New Haven township, where they still live, and where
they witnessed the growth to maturity of a family of three children, viz.:
Carrie, now Mrs. B. J. Saxton, of Grand Rapids, Michigan; Birdella, unmarried
and a resident of Carson City, Michigan, and Clifton J., the subject of
this sketch.
Aaron J. Chambers, the father, is an industrious, prosperous farmer, and
has always been alive to the best interests of the community in which
he has lived. He was retained by his constituents as supervisor of his
township for the period of seven years, and has held other township and
school offices in the gift of the people. He was born in Crawford county,
Ohio, on December 9, 1840. Mrs. Chambers, his wife, is two years his junior,
and was brought up and educated in Crawford county, Ohio. For the last
twenty-five years she has been an invalid and a constant sufferer from
rheumatism, yet she has never complained of her lot but has directed and
managed the affairs of the household, forgetting her own affliction in
her eagerness to make her home a pleasant one.
Clifton J. Chambers remained with his parents until his marriage. Until
he was seventeen years of age he assisted his father in the usual occupations
pertaining to a farmer's life. But being of a mechanical turn of mind,
he learned the carpenter's trade and found ready employment until there
came to him a desire to acquire a more complete education than was afforded
by the district schools of his locality. After pursuing a course in the
Valparaiso (Indiana) Normal School, he commenced to teach during the winter
months and worked at his trade in the summer. At about this time he also
purchased a piece of wild land on Section 27, in New Haven township, which
he afterward transformed into a homestead, and upon which he resided and
still owns.
On October 8, 1890, Mr. Chambers was united in marriage to Miss Emma A.
McWilliams, a member of an old and respected Ohio family. She was born
in Morrow county, that State, and her parents, Gabriel and Susanna (Sampsell)
McWilliams, were also natives of the Commonwealth named. Mr. McWilliams
was a farmer. Both he and his wife died in Gratiot county. Emma was the
eighth in a family of nine children, eight of who are now living. She
was reared and educated under the watchful care of fond and loving parents.
Possessed of a mind capable of rapid cultivation, and a large amount of
energy and determination, she soon attained a point in her studies which
qualified her to enter upon the duties of a teacher. Commencing at the
age of seventeen, she taught continuously to the time of her marriage
to Mr. Chambers, except during the year of her attendance at the Baldwin
University, Berea, Ohio. Two children, Carlton D. and Helen M., have been
born to Mr. and Mrs. Chambers.
For a number of years after his marriage Mr. Chambers continued to teach
school in the winter and to work at his trade during the summer, but in
1894 his political associates and the citizens generally recognized his
honesty and ability by electing him treasurer of New Haven township, from
which time his energies were directed toward the duties devolving upon
him as a servant of the people and the improvement of his homestead. So
satisfactorily did he perform the duties of the office that, in 1895 and
1896, he served as supervisor. In the fall of the latter year he received
the Republican nomination for register of deeds, but he went down with
the landslide which buried all the candidates on the ticket. Desiring
to devote more time to the improvement of his farm, Mr. Chambers refused
the nomination for supervisor the next year, but in the spring of 1898
he was again elected to that position, and continued to hold it until
the fall of 1902, when he resigned and moved to Ithaca, he having been
elected county clerk that year. Mr. Chambers was re-elected in 1904 for
another term of two years, and has given such prompt and efficient service
to the county that his tenure of office seems to depend upon his own pleasure
largely. He is a member of the M. E. Church, his ability and honesty as
a man being grounded upon firm religious convictions.
THOMAS HOLTON, a prominent resident
of Bethany township, is deserving of special mention in this volume not
only because of his high standing as a citizen but for his honorable record
as a soldier in the Civil War. He was born in Buckinghamshire, England,
September 28, 1846, son of Joseph Holton.
Joseph Holton married in England Miss Elizabeth Barnes, and they came
to the United States in the early winter of 1848. They settled in Jackson
county, Michigan, and lived there for many years before coming to Gratiot
county, in the spring of 1866. After that year they made their home in
Bethany township, and there Mr. Holton, died in 1882, at the age of sixty-six
years. His wife died about ten years later, aged seventy. They had a family
of eleven children.
Thomas Holton was the third child and his boyhood and early youth were
passed in Jackson county. When the Civil War broke out he was filled with
patriotic fervor and in October, 1862, although only sixteen years old,
he enlisted in Company E, Eighth Michigan Volunteer Infantry, and served
three years. He was with his regiment in the battles of Fredericksburg,
Virginia, and at Jackson, Mississippi. At the expiration of his term of
enlistment he was mustered out, and returning to Jackson county was engaged
there in farm labor for nearly eight years. In March, 1874, he came to
Gratiot county and settled in Bethany township, Section 10, on land which
he had previously purchased. Originally he bought seventy-six acres, and
this tract he increased to 238 acres. He remained upon this homestead
from 1874 until the spring of 1892, when he sold it and came to his present
farm in Section 24, in the same township, then purchasing 103 acres which
is now all under cultivation. His farm has a number of substantial buildings
and is in fine working condition.
In 1874 Mr. Holton abandoned the ranks of bachelorhood, on March 5th being
married to Miss Mary Lewis, a native of Jackson county, of English parentage.
To this union have come nine children, of whom the following six are living:
Richard, William, James R., Nellie, Anna B. and Emma I. A son, John R.,
died in Bethany township, in his twenty-first year; an infant son, Frank
E., was scalded to death when eighteen months old; and a daughter, Mary
May, died when only sixteen years old, in Colorado Springs, Colorado,
whither she had gone on account of her failing health. Mrs. Mary Holton
ended her earthly pilgrimage in Bethany township, where she died November
20, 1893, in the forty-first year of her age. Five years later, in the
spring of 1899, Mr. Holton married again, his second wife being Miss Rachel
Taylor Burgess.
Mr. Holton is among those citizens of Gratiot county who do not shirk
their municipal duties, but take their part in the local government. He
has held the office of justice of the peace for several years, filling
the position with an ability and efficiency which have fully demonstrated
his natural fitness for such responsibilities. He is also a member of
the township committee. As an old soldier Mr. Holton is naturally a member
of the Grand Army of the Republic, connected with Billy Cruson Post, No.
347, and his popularity with his old comrades is shown by the fact that
he has been chosen its commander. He also belongs to Monitor Grange No.
555. One of the old settlers, he has long been prominent in his locality
by reason of his many worthy traits and his abiding interest in all that
affects the public welfare.
Pages 72 to 87
Digital pages 24-30
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