"The air was tense," Mr. DAWLEY said. "We had known for several days that the armistice was coming through and everyone in the building was alerted for its actuality." Finally, the moment came and Mr. DAWLEY, accompanied by two men from the State War and Navy Building (now the Pentagon) took the paper to the president for his signature.
A native of Adams Township, Mr. DAWLEY enlisted in the war December 12, 1917 at Detroit, was assigned to Camp Custer and then transferred to Columbus Barracks, Ohio. There, he passed an examination and was selected for the position that he held throughout the war. Two men from each state were chosen for the positions.
Mr. DAWLEY carried important messages to all parts of the eastern section of the United States. One of his duties that he did not like was sending messages of condolence to the nearest of kin of fatalities. At one time, he sent 78 messages to the vicinities of Coldwater and Quincy.
He was in charge of all of the records for four million servicemen. His office force included two secretaries, 150 men and 6,000 file clerks. Two miles of solid marble corridors in the building were lined with filing cabinets. "I believe that these records in book form are now stored in the Archive Building," Mr. DAWLEY said.
His bosses were two four-star generals. When he entered the State War and Navy Building, he was ordered to "listen to no one but Gen. Harris and Gen. Payton C. MARSH, chief of staff of the U.S. Army to the president's office and tell nothing that you hear." He was issued a pass that permitted him to enter any army camp and any government building. "Except the treasury department," he said with a wry smile.
As you recall, America was not prepared for World War I. Mr. DAWLEY told of an incident of subterfuge on the part of the government which was maneuvered to give confidence to the American people and to deceive the enemy.
He was one of the men of the adjutant general's office who were sent to the top of the State War and Navy Building to man wooden anti-aircraft guns while news pictures were taken to assure the public that Washington was well protected. They also posed in trenches with guns without ammunition to show that Washington was ready for a last ditch stand.
Mr. DAWLEY also recalls some pleasant experiences during his sojourn in Washington. He was a dinner guest in the homes of the widows of General George A. Custer and General William T. Sherman. He met and visited with John Philip Sousa and his daughter in a Chinese laundry.
He accompanied Mrs. Woodrow Wilson and her daughter to both sessions of Congress when President Wilson tried to "sell" them on the League of Nations before going overseas.
He said that President Wilson was very reserved, very frank, and very erratic to the protective surveillance of the Secret Service men. One of the times that he thought he had escaped them, he and Mrs. Wilson were enjoying a ride on a street car on which Mr. DAWLEY happened to be riding also. At one stop, several Secret Service men boarded the street car and surrounded the President. "He didn't mince words in expressing his displeasure," Mr. DAWLEY said.
President Wilson was very informal and always had time to chat a bit. Herbert Hoover, then secretary of interior, was very formal although a small black dog that always laid on his desk belied this formality.
Mr. DAWLEY was born on the homestead taken on a government grant from the Monroe Territory by his great-grandfather, William DAWLEY. It is now a centennial farm.
Before entering the service, he taught school, was a bank cashier and was employed by the New York Central Railroad. In his modest way, he said "I felt rather self-conscious giving orders to lawyers, doctors and other professional men in view of my background." The Army apparently credited him with a certain integrity that qualified him for this job.
When he returned from military service he taught school for some time and then reentered the service of the New York Central Railroad and retired in 1954.
For 45 years, he has maintained that there is oil in Sections 13 and 14 of Adams Township. He bases his belief on a survey that he made across southern Michigan with Professor Clark HERRON of Hillsdale College and two geologists from Lansing. Time will tell.
Both Mr. and Mrs. DAWLEY have extensive historical background to furnish many topics of conversation. One of Mr. DAWLEY'S main pastimes is the reading of historical books. - Kathy KNELLER, Hillsdale Daily News Reporter
MABEL DOUBLE
My mother's family came from Lyons, New York, in 1865. My great grandfather Vassel BRAYMAN and his wife, Deliah, with their son, Jeremiah and his wife Ruth, son Theodore and daughter, Angeline, settled in Amboy Center. Another son, Herbert, was born later. My father, Wilbert DOUBLE and Angeline BRAYMAN were February 28, 1896. They had two children, a daughter, Mabel, born December 31, 1899 and one son, Glenn, born November 21, 1901. When my parents were first married, they lived in Woodbridge township, but later moved to the old BRAYMAN homestead in Amboy, across the road from the BRAYMAN schoolhouse. We lived there during my school days and two years of my teaching. My freshman year, I went to Reading High School and lived with my aunt and uncle, Noah DOUBLE, and another aunt and uncle, Herbert BRAYMAN. The next three years I lived at home and drove 5 1/2 miles with a horse and buggy to Frontier High School. I graduated in 1918 with only four in the class, one boy and three girls, all of whom are alive today, 1975. The summer after graduation I attended Normal School at Kalamazoo, Michigan, and began my teaching in the fall of 1918. My first year of teaching was at Brush Road, a country school with all grades, one mile east of Camden, where I boarded with the Harry HAYNES family. During the celebration of the armistice (W.W.I) we went to Camden and saw the effigy of the Kaiser burned. My second year I stayed at home and taught in our adjoining district, Pleasant View, in Amboy. In January, 1920, my parents moved to Hillsdale. I was fortunate in obtaining a position in the Gay District, 3 1/2 miles east of Hillsdale and taught there two years - 1920 to 1922. One day the Hillsdale School Commissioner, Mr. R. C. YOUNG, came to see me and asked me to take the Stone School, east of Steamburg, the following year. He said I would be the first lady teacher they had had in ten years. I taught there 1922-1923. the schoolhouse was built before the Civil War of large stones. In the spring, when it began to thaw, the stones began to drop out, one by one. One day a wagon load of men drove up and inspected the building and the next day only two of the thirty-five children were present. This continued until the officers finally closed the school and I had two weeks vacation while they were repairing it.
At that time I decided to quit teaching and get a job at the Western Union Telegraph office during the summer of 1923. One day, Mrs. Viola MOORE, County Commissioner of Schools, called me and asked me to teach at the Roundtop School, south of Pittsford, where they had run a teacher out the year before. After talking with the officers, I accepted the offer. It was one of the nicest and easiest schools I ever taught. It was the only rural school in the area which had a basement furnace.
During Spring vacation of that year, Mr. OSBORNE called me before I had signed up at the Roundtop school for another year, and asked me to teach at the Cole school. When I told the Roundtop officers of the offer, they called a meeting and decided to close the school and send the students to Pittsford. It would be cheaper than the wages I had been offered. The Roundtop has been open very little since that time.
While at the Cole School, 1924-1925, an ice storm came up and Mr. OSBORN came over to close the school, after sending the students home, and I started for the Bankers depot. The road wasn't paved at that time, the ice was thick and smooth and I slid most of the way to the foot of that long hill. The trains were running from Jackson to Fort Wayne, both ways, three times a day, so I got on a train and got home. T
he following year, 1925-1926, I taught near Cambria in the Divine district. It was a nice school, but by that time I wanted to get into a graded school, especially Junior High work. I applied at Montgomery and was accepted for the 7th and 8th grades. I found teaching in the graded schools quite different from the rural schools, where the teacher was the absolute boss. I had some difficulty adjusting to having a principal over me, although all of my principals (3) were very nice and I did about as I pleased. I taught nine years at Montgomery. Then the depression hit in 1933. The Board dismissed the primary teacher and the intermediate teacher, put the 8th grade into the High School and gave me all the rest of the grades – one to seven, so I was forced to do the work of three teachers. It was hard, but I made out. My salary was cut in half. The next spring, the Board refused to raise my salary so I went to a rural school just outside of Montgomery, the Holcombe school, with an attendance of 15, and taught there 1934 and 1935, enjoying a real restful time and more money.
In the Spring of 1935, Mr. John DRAKE called me and asked me to come to North Adams and teach the 3rd and 4th grades, which I did. I kept the same grades for six years. My mother passed away in 1942 and my father in 1943. My parents had both been ill for a long time. I decided to leave North Adams and went to Lansing and applied at the M.E.A. office. The principal, Mr. BELL, hired me over the telephone without seeing me for the 7th grade at Okemos, where I taught 7th grade from 1943 to 1945. In 1945 my room-mate was Miss Dorcas WOLF, who had been a student at Montgomery when I was teaching there and she and I became interested in the schools of Waterford township. These consisted of eight schools, consolidated under a common board. We both hired out to teach at the Williams Lake school, which was being built, Miss WOLF to teach the 2nd grade and I the 7th and 8th mathematics. I was at Williams Lake for 6 years. Then, the population was increasing so fast that the board put the 7th and 8th grades on a half-day basis and I was transferred to the Waterford Village school until the new High School was finished in March, 1952. When this transfer was taking place, I taught only mathematics until 1954 when they built the new Junior High - Crary Junior High.
By this time I was getting tired of teaching, 36 years, and yet I was too young to quit, so I asked Mr. SCHRUNK, the Superintendent, if I might act as Librarian in the new Junior High. He agreed, with the understanding that I would go to college to study librarianship. I went to Kalamazoo -Western Michigan - for six weeks and then served as librarian for 10 years.
When they built the second Junior High (Pierce) they asked me to go there as librarian, but I was tired after 45 years so retired in 1964, remaining in Pontiac for a few years and then returning to Hillsdale in 1969.
CAROLINE FORD
There was no organized school district, not even an organized village. But two years later a meeting of the qualified township voters was held. In the spring of 1841 a one-story frame school was standing on East Bacon Street, east of the rise of ground east of the present filling station.
Miss Caroline FORD was the popular choice for teacher, though she had in the meantime moved to Ohio with her parents. She accepted the offer and came back to Hillsdale to resume her position. In speaking of her early experiences she said, "After we returned to Ohio, my sister, Delia, residing in Homer, Michigan, asked me to visit her. While there, Henry S. MEAD wrote me to come to Hillsdale to take charge of the school about to be opened in the frame schoolhouse on Bacon Street. When I reached Hillsdale, I boarded with Mrs. MILLER, a widow, who lived in a small frame house on the site of Mrs. John P. COOK's present home. Only three houses then stood on what is now known as College Hill. I walked from the hill to Bacon Street every day. From Mrs. MILLER's I went to board with a family residing in the house now occupied by Mrs. George BURGDOLT at the rear of the Episcopal Church.
Thus began the Hillsdale public schools. The children were fortunate to have been entrusted to a woman of Miss FORD's calibre. She was a born teacher, remarkably talented in many ways, and a great favorite among early Hillsdaleites. In painting, composition and penmanship she was outstanding. During the last year of her life (she was nearly ninety) she acknowledged the receipt of an author's copy of a newly published book with one of her characteristic letters; and the author replied that her letter paid him for writing the book. One who knew her well paid her the following tribute: "Her quickness at repartee, her sense of humor, and her art of telling a story made her a desirable and coveted guest in all gatherings, rides, picnics and parties. She had a wonderful faculty for making and retaining friends. In many homes in Hillsdale and elsewhere, her coming was hailed with delight. She was a sincere Christian and had much of the old Puritan staunchness in her ideas of right and wrong."
Five generations of New England ancestors had contributed that Puritan strain to her character, and a grandmother, who was claimed to be the first woman physician in Massachusetts contributed independence of spirit. Miss FORD was descended from Mathew FORD of Bradford, Massachusetts, through his great-grandson, John FORD, a Revolutionary soldier. In studying the family in the light of later developments, it is significant to note that their migration parallels those of the Benaiah JONES family of Jonesville; both families coming from Hebron, Connecticut through Middlefield, Massachusetts, to their subsequent abiding place in Hillsdale County. A further coincidence is the fact that on the 1934 high school faculty was Mrs. Leithel FORD, the wife of Miss FORD's grandnephew.
That original little schoolhouse on East Bacon Street became somewhat of a community centre, utilized for "preaching" on Sundays, for "spelling bees", etc. in the evenings, as well as for educational purposes on week days. When it was struck by lightning and burned, a room for school use was temporarily fitted up in the railway station until another building could take its place. The time came, however, when the increasing needs of the village demanded more commodious school quarters. In 1847 the District Board voted to expend not more than $2500.00 upon a suitable building, to be constructed on the Courthouse Square of the native stone quarried near the present city limits. Upon its completion in 1848, Miss FORD moved her little flock thither. The school was two stories in height. Downstairs there was a primary room facing Broad Street and an intermediate room facing Howell Street. Upstairs, there were one or two classrooms, a cloak room and an assembly room, heated by a long stove which burned four foot wood. And now the school officials, proud of the fine accommodations, expanded the scope of the work to meet rising educational standards, though grading was not thought of nor was a regular course of study considered important. The pupils brought whatever texts they owned and gaily pursued whatever subjects they fancied. The teaching force was enlarged commensurately. Rev. Stephen HICKOK was engaged as principal at an annual salary of $500.00. Miss FORD, Miss LAWRENCE and Miss HAMMOND were retained as his assistants at substantially lower salaries. But in the early sixties, ward schools became necessary to care for the children at the extremes of the village and by 1867 the whole school system was outgrown.
Steps were immediately taken to rectify the situation and, as it was thought, to provide amply for the future. The resultant Central, or Union School, built in 1868, was called a perfect structure of its kind. It was planned for five hundred pupils, divided into a primary department of three grades, an intermediate department of three grades, a grammar department of two grades, and a high school of three grades. Furnace heat and individual desks furnished touches of luxury. The corps of teachers was headed by a principal, who was expected to "spend such a portion of his time in general supervision as the condition of the school may seem to require". His specific duties were:(Page ends)
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HOPKINS
From Portraits and Biography of Hillsdale County - by Permelia Wood
Joseph HOPKINS married for his second wife Miss Abigail STAPLE, and there were born five children, one of whom is living and now resides in Wheatland Township. the mother of these died about 1847, in New York. The third wife of Mr. HOPKINS was formerly Mrs. Charity LOOMIS, and they had no children. Joseph HOPKINS died in Wheatland Township, in this county, on the 17th of June, 1850, while on a visit to his children, at the age of fifty-eight years.
The subject of this biography spent his boyhood on the farm, where at an early age he was taught to make himself useful. His education was chiefly carried on during the winter season. After reaching his majority he started overland for the Territory of Michigan, arriving in Hillsdale County in the fall of 1838. His first business was to secure a tract of land, upon which he settled, and of which he is still the owner. His next important step was to secure a wife and helpmate, and a year later he was united in marriage with one of the most estimable young ladies of Delaware county, Ohio, Miss Elizabeth, daughter of Aaron and Hannah (CARNEY) MOORE. Both her father and mother had been previously married, each being the parent of seven children. They thus commenced with a family of fourteen, to which there were in due time added three more, of whom Elizabeth was the youngest. Mr. MOORE was a farmer and shoemaker combined, and spent his entire life in New York State, passing away at the advanced age of seventy-eight years. The mother subsequently made her home with her daughter, Mrs. HOPKINS, and died in 1857, aged eighty-one.
The wife of our subject was born Dec. 16, 1820, near Palmyra, Wayne Co., N. Y., and her father being in limited circumstances, she commenced working out, earning her own living, during which time she made the acquaintance of her future husband. To Mr. and Mrs. HOPKINS there was born one child only, a daughter, Martha, who is now the wife of Amasa CHANDLER, of Somerset, this county, and is the mother of two children - Ludd and Jay. The elder was reared by his grandfather, married Miss Ida ALDRICH, of Somerset, and at present is operating his grandfather's farm. Jay lives with his father at Somerset, Mich., where he married Miss Amanda McCURDY, and is the father of one child.
Mr. HOPKINS in 1860, was elected Supervisor of Somerset Township, which office he held for a period of ten years, with credit to himself and satisfaction to all concerned. Previous to that time he served as Highway Commissioner a number of years. In the spring of 1874, he withdrew from the Republican caucus as candidate for Supervisor, preferring some other man should assume its responsibilities. He always maintained a lively interest in the various enterprises which naturally followed as the result of the settling up of a county, served as a Director of the Farmer's Insurance Company, and also on the committees of the county fair for many years. During the late Rebellion he was eminently useful in gathering together needed supplies for the soldiery, and in upholding the principles of the Union and freedom.
Mr. HOPKINS holds the title deed to four farms, one of which he has presented to his grandson. At one time he was the owner of 600 acres, mostly in Somerset Township, this county. The farm given his grandson was 150 acres. He owes his success in life to his untiring industry, strict attention to business, and rigid economy. He has been prompt always in meeting his obligations, and thus gained the esteem and confidence of the people around him. His homestead is not only a credit to himself, but an ornament to the surrounding country, and will stand as a monument of his perseverance and industry years after he shall have passed away. Our subject has given to his half-brother and grandchildren over $11,000 to date.
From HILLSDALE COUNTY, MICHIGAN
Mr. HOPKINS was a man of public spirit and enterprise, who always gave active and serviceable support to every commendable undertaking for the good of the community. He served a number of years as highway commissioner, and in 1860, was elected supervisor of Somerset township. For a period of ten years thereafter he held this important office, administering its affairs with credit to himself and to the advantage of the township. In 1874, he was again spoken of for the position, but he withdrew from the caucus of his party in order that another man might be selected. He was a director of the Farmers' Insurance Co., and he was also for many years on the (section missing) acres. He has an attractive residence, a good barn, and is filling his grandfather's place in the confidence and service to the community.
OBITUARY Sanford D. HOPKINS, for many years a resident of Adams and Somerset township, died at his home in North Adams, Friday, August 7, 1896. Mr. HOPKINS had been in ill health for about a year, though suffering no pain. He was about the village up to within a week of his death.
Deceased was born in the township of Bergen, Genesee county, New York, on January 9, 1817. Upon arriving at his majority he left the parental home and came to Michigan in the fall of 1838. He settled on a farm in Somerset township, Hillsdale county, and up to 1884, when he moved to this village, his home was on the farm he originally settled upon. In the fall of 1839 he married Elizabeth MOORE, and to them was born one child, a daughter, in 1841.
During the 45 years of his residence in the township of Somerset Mr. HOPKINS held a number of public offices, being their supervisor for ten years, and was universally held in high esteem for his probity and sound judgment. Mr. HOPKINS was an example of that class of thrifty, economical men who, by careful management accumulate large properties. Mr. HOPKINS owned at the time of his death several farms and he is said to have given away some $20,000 to different parties during the last years of his life. The funeral occurred from the home in North Adams. Rev. Ira B. CARD of Hillsdale, conducting the service. The house was crowded and many could not obtain admittance. The body was taken to the Aldrich cemetery in Somerset township for burial.
Card of Thanks
CHANDLER FARM
Land was purchased by Sanford HOPKINS.
Land was willed to Ludd CHANDLER (Grandson) in 1882.
Ludd CHANDLER had new home built in 1900 at a total cost of $5,000.
Ludd CHANDLER (in 1932 or 1933) willed the present portion of this farm (160 acres) to Donald and Bernard CHANDLER, subject to life leases to his wife Ida CHANDLER and their housekeeper, Purl WALTERS.
At the end of the two life leases in 1962 Donald CHANDLER was deceased. Bernard CHANDLER purchased the half interest from the estate of Donald CHANDLER in 1963.
One building on the Chandler farm served two purposes – the two story carriage house was built across the road facing the front door – Aunt Ida refused to come in thru the back door. The upper floor was used for the harness etc. – the basement was built with no windows – water was piped from the house well. A return pipe carried the finished product from the still. Twas said that it was never raided – After all there was no rule against making your own squeezing!
160 acres + 20 acres in woods, 20 acres in house, barn, lanes and roadbed. A huge complex of red barns – This was a dairy farm, worked by horses and plows and tenant farmers with their kids. The 160 is all that is left in the CHANDLER Family of the Ludd CHANDLER holdings.
The horse stalls, the tack rooms, the stanchions for the cows are still standing. A within hand hewed timber and wood siding barns. The roofs tower high above, for over the livestock was stored their feed. The milk house was the only one built of concrete block.
The woods teem with venison, pheasant, turkeys etc. The smoke house is clean and ready to use.
The windmill is gone. The frame was taken down 5 years ago when a new roof was put on the house. The barns are out dated now and should be removed. The house retains the Victorian charm but not Aunt Ida's lovely antiques. They are scattered about Hillsdale county. They were sold at auction – will(section missing)
the Navy Nurse Corp in World War II and is now night supervisor of nursing there. Clair CHAPIN of Osseo, Rose FERGUS of Prattville,
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Col. NORRIS came to Woodbridge Township in 1837 and took up 1/2 of section 2 and 1/2 of section 11 from the Government. He later turned it over to his sons and went back to New York, living there until 1854. That year he again came to Hillsdale County, purchasing 120 acres in Cambria Township. He was a farmer and a carpenter. He was married three times and had seven children. It is a peculiar circumstance that six of his seven children had the same initials as himself. They were Jared Bishop NORRIS, Jason Bates NORRIS, Julia B. NORRIS, and Jackson Brooks NORRIS. An old map shows that in 1857, all six, along with Col. NORRIS, were living in Cambria Township and that vicinity. Joel B. NORRIS was one of the originators of the Hillsdale County Fair.
For his first wife Col. NORRIS married Polly BISHOP at Canandaigua, New York. They had one son, Jared Bishop NORRIS born at Canandaigua June 13, 1816. Polly Bishop NORRIS died January 20, 1817, at the age of 28. Col. NORRIS died March 13, 1872. He is buried in the Wyllys Cemetery in Cambria Township along with several other members of the NORRIS family.
A great-granddaughter of Col. NORRIS, Mrs. Lois HOUTZ, has a brass trimmed leather box used for private papers inscribed "Property of Col. John B. NORRIS 1825." Also among her possessions is a compass used by Col. NORRIS for his travels in the wilderness. There is a tiny horseshoe accompanied by a note saying that in 1852 Jason B. NORRIS (Mrs. HOUTZ'S great-uncle) drove a span of horses hitched to a lumber wagon from Canandaigua, New York, to Hillsdale County. The halter of a little colt, who was tied to its mother's bridle, broke. On the way the colt's feet became sore and had to be shod. A blacksmith made the tiny horseshoe for this colt.
Jared Bishop NORRIS married Lois ASHLEY on March 4, 1841. They were the parents of six children. Four of the children died early in life. Of the two remaining children, Julia married Joseph STURDEVENT; and Ada, born November 24, 1860, married Danford FULLER, born October 6, 1850. The FULLER children were Joel B. (1879-1960), Jason B. (1882-1966), Lois (1888), Libbie (1890-1960), Jessie (1891-1966), Sidney (1893-1965), Austin (1895-1966), Winona (1896), and Jared (1898). Three of this family survive, Winona Fuller FOWLE living in Napoleon, Michigan, and Jared Norris FULLER and Lois Fuller HOUTZ living in Hillsdale. Lois Fuller HOUTZ living in Hillsdale. Lois FULLER and Ethan E. HOUTZ were married September 13, 1906. They were the parents of four children, all of whom are living. They are Donald, Doris, Arbeulah, and Thelma. Donald was born in 1907. He and his wife Dorothy McClintic HOUTZ live in Bankers. Doris, born in 1909, married Ralph LEFFLER and they live in Hillsdale. They are the parents of a son, Kenneth. He and his wife, Beverly Edwards LEFFLER, are presently living in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Arbeulah, born in 1913, and her husband, Forrest CRONE, live in Southfield. Their children are: Darrell and Laura Lee. Darrell and his wife Brenda and three children, Darrell Jr., Eric and Claudine are living in California. Laura Lee, married to James STASKOWSKI, with their three children Ann, James Jr., and Paul live at Farmington Hills, Michigan. Thelma, born in 1917, is married to Ronald HART and lives in Hillsdale. They were the parents of two children, Lavon and Ronald Jr. Lavon Hart JAWOROWSKI passed away January 18, 1969, at the age of 29 leaving two small sons, David and Christopher. Ronald Jr. and his wife Judy Gowthrop HART, and three children Michael, Mathew, and Kathy, are living in Battle Creek.
There are still descendants of the other NORRIS brothers living in Hillsdale County. - Doris LEFFLER (great-great-granddaughter)
CHARLES W. PETERS
As soon as grandfather laid eyes on it, he told his family, "This is the place we have been looking for. It could never be better than this." On November 8, 1898, they became the new residents at 341 Stub Road on Bear Lake. My mother, Agnes PETERS, went to school at a one-room schoolhouse situated across the street from the WILLETS Cemetery. She graduated from Reading High School in 1912.
Agnes PETERS was married from her parents home in 1916 to Frank GREINER.
The historic piece of land that Charles PETERS acquired was originally a land grant from the United States of America to Samuel BARTLETT on October 8, 1835.
Charles W. PETERS purchased his first 20 acres from John D. BURGESS and wife and later an additional 80 acres from Fred BARBER in 1915.
Grandfather was born March 3, 1862, and died March 3, 1951, on his 89th birthday. He rests alongside his wife Lillie and their daughter, Agnes, at the WILLETS Cemetery.
Now Eileen LIENAU (nee GREINER) and husband, Richard LIENAU, reside to continue the third generation and most certainly the fourth, someday, through our children, Michael, Diane, and Cheryl. They, also, in their turn are instilling a love and pride of this town and the land our four grandchildren will one day inherit, God willing. - Eileen Greiner Lienau
POYNTER
Samuel POYNTER, married Sarah, their children: William, born 1824; Robert born 1826; Samuel born 1828; Rebecca born 1830; Benj born 1832; Matilda 1834; Sarah Ann born April 18, 1836, died July 4, 1927; Eunice, born 1837; Mary Ann born 1838; Amanda born 1840; and Louise Jane born 1842.
Nathaniel POYNTER, born 1797, died October 30, 1880, married Catherine WEBB, (cannot find where she died or was buried); their children: (1) Lewcinda, born August 11, 1820; (2) Levin, born November 29, 1821, died 1899, married June 7, 1846, to Della Ann WILLSON, born 1828, died 1891; by R. H. WITHINGTON, Justice of the Peace, their children: Delia, born 1858, died 1866; Whitney, born 1859, died 1893; Wilson, born 1862, died 1936; Joseph, born 1862, died 1888; Nellie, born 1866; Tammy, born 1868, died 1891. (3) Henry, born September 24, 1823. (4) Elender, born April 11, 1825, died January 27, 1897, buried in Cambria Cemetery, married to Daniel WHITNEY, no children from this union, they raised a great-nephew, Austin A. STAHLER, who named his first child, a daughter, Ella, after his aunt Elender. Elender and Daniel WHITNEY were United Brethren and very religious. Bible reading was done daily in their home, they lived in Frontier for some time and farmed there, later living west of Cambria on Lilac Road at the dead end of Carpenter Road. (5) Anna, born March 21, 1828, married Jones WHITNEY, October 20, 1844, by Justice of the Peace, Albert ANGEL. (6) Barbara, born June 11, 1830, died dur-(end of page)
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Nathaniel POYNTER, later married his sister-in-law, Sarah POYNTER, April 16, 1849; he was 50-years-old and she was 42. Sarah was born in 1807, died April 4, 1885, both she and Nathaniel are buried in Pioneer Cemetery. They became members of the M.E. or Methodist Church of Pioneer on December 26, 1869.
Many of the children of Nathaniel POYNTER settled in Hillsdale County and many of their families live there today. - T. L. Tanner
REPPERT – McDERMID Our farm home was built about 137 years ago and was the home of one of the McDERMID brothers, who founded Cambria Mills. The other brothers lived on the other side of the pond. The McDERMID brothers built the dam, gristmill and a sawmill.
Augustine REPPERT bought the farm on November 14, 1912. He died, October 31, 1923. Guy REPPERT, Sr. bought the farm from his father, Augustine REPPERT, January 5, 1924. Guy and Odeyne REPPERT bought the farm from Guy REPPERT, Sr. on February 8, 1946.
In 1874, Cambria had 250 inhabitants. There were eighteen business places. In 1881, Cambria had three hundred inhabitants and thirty-four business places. The Cambria Mill Pond bridge collapsed on May 14, 1914.
My father, Guy REPPERT, Sr. had a collection of arrow heads which I now own. These Indian arrow heads were picked up around our farm located north and east of the mill pond. My father said at one time he found seven fire pots where the Indians had made arrow heads. This was along the shore line of the pond. These fire pots each measured seven to eight feet across and all one could plow around this spot was charcoal, ashes and chipped stone. my father found at least 400 arrow heads on the place and had given many away. There was also a brick kiln on the farm, which was made of bricks. The kilns looked much like an Eskimo hut but measured twenty feet long with a hole in the top for a flue. Fuel was piled into the bottom of these kilns, then the freshly made bricks stacked on top. The kindling was then ignited and the kilns were allowed to burn three or four days before the bricks were cured sufficiently. The material, yellow clay, for the bricks was on the farm. The bricks were made in the open, using a press, which was operated by horses and the circle path which the horses made in operating the press, is still faintly visible. The business also included a well. The old Methodist Church of Cambria, which is now the community hall of the Cambria Baptist Church, is constructed of bricks from our farm.
My father Guy REPPERT, Sr. raised three children on the farm: Esther, Dale and Guy, Jr. Esther married Frank ALDRICH, Dale married Anna BUELL. Guy, Jr. married Odeyne HOSTETLER. Frank ALDRICH and Dale REPPERT are now deceased.
We have two boys, Fred and Gary REPPERT. They were both raised on the farm. Fred is married to Artis BARNETT and they have two children, Nippi and Tony.
Gary is married to Cathy SLAYBAUGH and they have one son, Robby. - Mrs. Guy REPPERT
REICHHARDT FAMILY
They are parents of three children; David born August 5, 1941, JoAnn born December 14, 1943 and Bonnie born March 14, 1950.
David was married to Peggy KELLY of Calumet, Michigan, June 24, 1972. they have a daughter Cristin born January 5, 1974. David received his Master's degree from Eastern Michigan University. He teaches chemistry and science at East Jackson High School. Peggy is a medical technician at the University Hospital, Ann Arbor. David served two years in India with the Peace Corp. They live at 7840 Third Street, Dexter, Michigan.
JoAnn was married August 10, 1968 to Larry WHITING of Hillsdale. She graduated from Hillsdale College in 1966, and has taught school in Westland, Michigan and is now with the Karen Jankins Nursery School. Larry is a graduate of Detroit Bible College. He is employed at the Freedom Farm School, Pittsford, Michigan. They returned to Hillsdale recently and live at 467 Bankers Road, Hillsdale.
Bonnie graduated from Hillsdale College in December 1973. She is teaching in the Camden-Frontier Elementary School. During her college years she worked at the Mitchell Public Library and had the Children's Story Hours. She resides at 1010 Cambria Road, Camden. - Marie REICHHARDT
NATHAN AND POLLY RICH
They had 10 children, their names were Amanda, Leroy, Oscar, Curtis, Henry, William, Richard, John, David and Eliza.
Nathan and Polly purchased 640 acres of land for $640. On August 2, 1856, and built a one room log cabin about 12 by 26 feet with a door to the east and a fireplace at the south end. Here they spent their first winter in Michigan.
They cleared the land and rolled the logs in large bunches, some were split for rails, others burned. The stumps were pulled and they plowed the land for the first time.
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During the Civil War Andrew JACKSON lived with his uncle, Andrew JACKSON, Sr., near Lexington, Missouri. Rev. Amos HORN did not believe in slavery but they were Southerners and his sons joined the Southern Army.
Andrew JACKSON was as a mere boy left with the responsibility of the farm work. He plowed the fields when he could hardly reach the plow handles.
His aunt became the lay minister of the nearby church, while Andrew JACKSON Sr. was in the army.
Both the Northern and the Southern Army passed back and forth through the area around Lexington. Andrew JACKSON's fields of grain that he so laboriously planted were trampled down by both sides as they swept through the fields.
To a lonely little boy, feeling the weight of responsibility to help his aunt and her sister, Rebecca, it was a hard and frightening life.
Grandfather stood by the road when General Price of the Southern Army passed his uncle's farm, moving up for the siege of Lexington, Missouri. He said they looked so sad, so stern. He laid on the ground all day and listened to the roar of the guns. A cannon ball which was shot into the front of the court house at Lexington, still remains as a reminder of that day.
He spoke in a choked voice, of a group of mere boys who were starting for Arkansas to join the Southern Army, how as they crossed the creek nearby, the farm called Black Creek; they were all shot by the Union men called the "home guard."
The home guards were Union men who were supposed to protect the people of the county. Any one deserting the southern Army, if they surrendered to these men, were to be taken to Lexington for trial. They were to be allowed to join the Northern Army if able, or become private citizens, if they were ill.
Three men, including the family Doctor DOBSON, surrendered to the home guards. Their families were in desperate need of help, forcing their decision. They started for Lexington with the home guards. The guards divided part in front and part in the back of the three men.
Grandfather and his aunt watched as the men in the back shot old Dr. DOBSON and the two men and threw them in the bushes.
Andrew JACKSON's grandfather, Rev. Amos HORN, had been ill for some time. Andrew's aunt sent him to inquire about his grandfather's health. When he arrived the home guards were in the house talking to his grandfather concerning his political views, as to whether he favored the north or the south. On the outside another group was taking the cattle, the poultry, hogs, the horses, everything that was eatable and could be used by the soldiers. These men had been in Rev. HORN's church and Sunday school classes. Grandfather had to often pass under the "hanging tree". The tree was so called because the home guards had hung so many people from its branches.
The home guards had made a vow they would kill two southern men for every northern man killed. They kept their word, even if they had to call out some terrified little boy from his home, and hang him while an agonized mother hopelessly watched.
This morning the sun shone brightly, the green once more was appearing in the trampled ground, the small creatures of the fields moved about busily. Grandfather started once without thought under the hanging tree.
Suddenly the glory of the day was gone, only stark unreasoning terror remained. He fled back down the familiar road, now a haunted lane, where the wee creatures of the fields were monsters ready to jump out of every corner and devour him. On the large branch of the hanging tree were his close neighbor and his young son. The boy still twisting convulsively in the death struggle. Grandfather often wondered how he escaped their ruthless hands.
His aunt, Rebecca DUST, who lived in the home often risked her life carrying gun powder across the lines in molasses jars.
Andrew JACKSON grew to manhood during the hard years following the Civil War. The lovely farm homes of his grandfather and his uncle. Andrew Jackson Sr., still stood after the battle field was quiet. The rich Missouri land still lay warm in the summer sun.
But no one in the south had cattle, poultry, hogs, seeds, or horses to plow the fields. His aunt had hidden a few seeds, and old potatoes in the root cellar. They labored in the hot sun to plant those seeds with nothing but a hoe. Grandfather stayed on with his uncle who had come home from the war wounded in body and spirit.
The HORN determination and spirit of independence wrought a miracle and in a few years, the sun once again shone on a prosperous and busy home of the HORNS.
LATHAM FAMILY
They were married in Higginsville, Missouri in 1881 by Rev. Amos WHITTING. Dora Sarah was the daughter of Harrison and Sarah REEL LATHAM. She was born in council Bluffs, Iowa. Her father moved from Council Bluffs to Warrensburg, Missouri to become President of the Warrensburg Normal.
The LATHAMS were of Scotch descent and were of the Presbyterian faith. They were a quiet, gentle people of few words, but those words counted.
Sarah REEL LATHAM was a descendant of Anthony REEL of Virginia. Sarah REEL, her mother, was born in Virginia where her family had lived for many years. Her daughter, Dora Sarah HORN, had gone to the Brown School for Girls in Valpraiso, Indiana. Her brothers, Perry and William, were graduates of Valpraiso Normal. Perry was agent for Wells Fargo for many years. Later he taught in the University of Chicago. After his retirement he became secretary treasurer of the United Pacific Shows. William was a traveling accountant for several firms for thirty years. Cyrus moved to Savanah, Missouri where he became a merchant. His son, Harry LATHAM, was prosecuting attorney of Savanah until his retirement.
Andrew JACKSON and Dora lived in Joplin and Independence where three of their ten children were buried. They moved to St. Louis where Andrew was pastor of a church near Forest Park.
They owned a green house in St. Louis which Andrew's nephew managed. Andrew stated that he sold flowers to Jesse James' mother to take to Jesse's grave. Legend has it that Jesse's mother died before Jesse's death.
They were in Emporia, Kansas where their daughter, Lunda, was born. They moved to Harrison, Arkansas where Andrew had a church near Burgman.
The memories of Burgman are precious. The town was nestled in a quiet valley surrounded by wooded hills, with springs and streams, cascading down the hillsides.
The train made famous by Casey Jones passed through the town. The tracks that ran in front of the picturesque depot curved through the hills and over a trestle that we were forbidden to walk on, but we did.
MOORE FAMILY
In Burgman we lost my sister, Bernice. She strangled to death from whooping cough. I did not fully realize I would never see her again. I was so proud of her as she lay on the white coverlet in her light blue silk dress, her auburn curls so carefully arranged, the dainty blue ribbon on her dress, that a neighbor had lovingly tied. I can see the neighbors holding my mother's hands to help ease the agony of parting. I can see my father walking up the hill in the evening sun, his downcast head revealing his sorrow.
There were no undertakers or caskets sold closer than Little Rock, Ark. So there was no one to embalm the body, in the early morning the little white casket the neighbors so carefully covered with a soft white wool lined with blue silk to match her dress, was placed on a spring wagon, drawn by a beautiful team of horses. We started up the long steep hill out of Burgman for the little burying ground beside by grandfather's church. A few years ago my mother and I visited that lonely little grave in the hills of Arkansas and relived that day of so long ago.
Andrew and Dora purchased a hotel in Burgman. They left it under the management of the owner of a stage coach line that passed through Burgman, when they moved to Wainwright, Oklahoma. There Andrew helped to build a Baptist church and was the first pastor of that church.
It was my privilege to be present at the dedication of the church. My grandfather (end of page)
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My Uncle Milton HORN, and my father, Charles MOORE, smoothed the cement over the papers in the corner stone. Among the papers is the name of my grandfather, his family and his sermon of dedication.
Away from the foundation of the church stretched the Oklahoma prairies for more miles than the eye could see. As evening drew close, the haunting cry of the coyotes could be heard in the distance.
Andrew JACKSON and Dora Sarah HORN had ten children, but only four lived to adulthood – Lunda, Martha, Milton and Reba.
Martha married Samuel ROCHELLE of Frontier, Michigan. After Andrew was past seventy he moved to Michigan where Martha was located. He and Dora purchased the old Dr. John FALLEY place on State Street, now the Carriage Apartments. Here they spent the rest of their lives.
Samuel ROCHELLE was the son of Benjamin and Sarah FOWLER ROCHELLE, and the grandson of James and Susan ELLIOTT ROCHELLE of Stark County, Ohio. Benjamin was prominent in the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was a ember of James HADLEY Post, GAR, at Frontier, Michigan. He served as Commissioner of Highways three years. He was a graduate of Oberlin College. Sarah was the daughter of Samuel and Phebe FARMINGTON FOWLER. She was a teacher in Hillsdale schools for some years.
Samuel was a graduate of Albion College. He had studied for the ministry. His brother, James, was a Methodist minister at one time in the Methodist Church in Hillsdale.
Samuel and Martha had two children - Harold and Carolyn
Carolyn married Wilmer CLAY of Kalamazoo. They met at Western Michigan University, where they both graduated. Carolyn attended Hillsdale College before going to Western and was also a graduate of the Rochester Conservatory of Music.
They moved to Seneca Falls, New York where Wilmer owned a clothing store in Seneca Falls for a number of years.
They had two children - Constance and John, both teachers in the Rochester University.
Carolyn was a member of the Christian Scientist Church. She died in the year 1976 and was buried at Seneca Falls, New York.
Harold ROCHELLE married Ruby DEARDOFF. They were graduates of Greenville College, where they met. They were teachers in the LaHarve, California schools until both retired. They had two sons - Burton and Robert. Burton was killed in a bomber crash in World War II. Robert and Burton were both graduates of Stanford University. Robert now has a business and lives in Laguna Beach, California.
Milton HORN graduated from Spring Arbor Seminary, and entered Greenville College, Greenville, Illinois. He was studying for the ministry. At the beginning of World War I, he joined the Navy and was stationed at Great Lakes Training Station.
He returned to Hillsdale after the war and immediately made plans to enter the fall term at Greenville, to finish his last year at College.
The day before he was to leave for Greenville he attended a class reunion at Spring Arbor, Michigan. The group went to Lime Lake near Spring Arbor and Milton was drowned. He is buried at the Frontier Cemetery. Milton was becoming an artist of some note before his death.
Reba, a graduate nurse, married Henry HAMMOND. They had an infant son who died at birth, and a daughter, Charlotte. Charlotte married Robert WEAVER of Syracuse, New York. Charlotte and her infant daughter died in the Hillsdale Hospital. Reba married a second time to Jack AUSTIN of Jackson. The family are all deceased.
Lunda HORN, eldest child of Andrew and Dora, was born in Emporia, Kansas. Her early life was spent in Missouri. Her father wanted her to become an artist. He sent her to Chicago to live with her uncle, Perry LATHAM. Mr. LATHAM was the head of the business department of the Chicago University.
Lunda was entered in the Art Classes. The second month of the term she enrolled in the business department. Andrew HORN was to find in his son the artistic ability of his father.
When Lunda returned to St. Louis, Missouri, she met Charles W. MOORE of Louisville, Kentucky. They were married in St. Louis, Missouri, in the Forest Park Baptist Church. After the death of Charles MOORE, Lunda came to Frontier, Michigan where her sister, Martha ROCHELLE lived. She married a second time to Erwin HUKILL in Frontier, Michigan. They had two children – Irene Lillian and Merl Corwin. Erwin HUKILL's parents were Josh and Elizabeth HUKILL. He (Josh) was from Scotland a fact made evident by his pronounced Scottish brogue. Elizabeth was Pennsylvania Dutch. Josh owned and operated a stave factory in Frontier. They are buried in Frontier Cemetery.
Erwin HUKILL died when his son, Merl Corwin, was six months old and Lunda was left the second time with a small child. Her first husband, Charles MOORE, had died when his daughter, Frances, was six months old.
Five years after the death of Mr. HUKILL, Lunda married Linus MEEK of Frontier. Mr. MEEK preceded her in death by twenty years. Mr. and Mrs. MEEK are buried in the Frontier Cemetery.
Lunda was a Baptist until she moved to Frontier, Michigan. She joined the United Brethren Church at Frontier and was a devout member of the church the rest of her life. Though sorrow shadowed her life many times, she kept a cheerful and hopeful spirit. Her untiring energy was given to her church and to service for others. To the several organizations to which she belonged, she gave faithful service: to her family, a deep and abiding devotion.
HUKILL FAMILY
Merl and June had eight children – Alan, Michael, Steven, Philip, Patrick, Douglas, Thomas, and Timothy.
Alan graduated from Hillsdale High School and Michigan State University, the only one to graduate that year in biochemistry. He is the supervisor of the control laboratory of the Wryeth Laboratories in Mason, Michigan.
Alan married March 12, 1942, Sandra Schumacher VOIGHT, daughter of Elden and La Doris SCHUMACHER of Mansfield, Ohio, and granddaughter of Ralph and Gladys BARR of Lucas, Ohio.
Sandra is the laboratory assistant of the Bacteria Laboratory of the Wyeth Laboratories. They have two sons, Scott and Brian VOIGHT, sons of Sandra by her first marriage.
Stephen HUKILL married Marilyn SPEITH June 26, 1970 in the Presbyterian Church in Hillsdale. Marilyn is the daughter of Walter Earl and Doris HICKOK SPEITH and the granddaughter of Elizah and Grace HICKOK and Earl and Pearl Covey SPEITH. Stephen and Marilyn are both graduates of Michigan State University as of December 1975.
Michael HUKILL was a graduate of Hillsdale High School. He moved to Denver, Colorado, to study voice. He is now enrolled in a conservatory in Los Angeles, California. Michael has already had parts in operas and plans to make this his career.
Philip Lance HUKILL married Janis Kay RIGGBEE in the Free Methodist Church in Hillsdale September 30, 1972. They are both graduates of Hillsdale High School. Philip is studying to become a writer and Janis is studying to be an illustrator.
Janis is the daughter of Claude ODELL and Kathryn Parsons RIGGBEE, and the granddaughter of Claude ODELL and Edith Acelia RIGGBEE.
Thomas HUKILL, an honor student of the 1975 graduating class, joined the Marines, and is stationed at Memphis, Tennessee. He will enter Annapolis Navy Academy in May.
Douglas Arlen HUKILL married Pamela Susan FECKER, daughter of Henry FECKER Jr. and Alice Ruth RUMMER, in the Catholic Church in Hillsdale. Her grandparents are Henry and Josephine FECKER Sr. and Cecelia ROADY and Charles RUMMER. They have a son, Douglas Stephen. Douglas HUKILL who had promise as a painter in Hillsdale High School has joined the Navy and will be able to continue his studies while in service.
Timothy HUKILL is a student in Hillsdale High School and lives with his father in Hillsdale.
Irene HUKILL, daughter of Erwin and Lunda HORN HUKILL, married Richard SCHMIDT of Hillsdale. Richard was the son of Frederick and Catherine RILEY SCHMIDT. He is a tool and die maker for Richard Brothers in Hillsdale.
They have two children - Nancy and Lynall.
Nancy graduated from Hillsdale High School: attended Hillsdale College, and Wittenberg College, and graduated from Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo Michigan. Nancy was a YWCA social worker in Elkhart, Indiana. She married Richard RIGGS, son of Gerald and Gladys GILLESPI RIGGS. Richard is a prototype engineer for Simpson company in Litchfield, and a teacher in the adult education department of the Hillsdale High School. He is the leader of a Boy Scout Troop and Nancy is public relations chairman of the Humane Society and a leader of a Campfire Girls troop. They have three children, Kathy Lyne, Amy Lynall, and Richard Lee, all in grade school.
Lynall SCHMIDT married Richard KELLY, son of Burdette and Marilyn COMSTELLER KELLY and grandson of Carl and Glenna COMSTELLER and Harry and Inez KELLY. Richard and Lynall were graduates of Hillsdale High School and Cleary College, and the Compting-rooms of the KELLEY interests. Richard is the vice president of a restaurant chain of which his father is the owner. Richard and Lynall have two children - Tammy J. and Jennifer J.
MOORE FAMILY
The MORES were considered eccentric people. In an age when the Elizabethans never swam, never bathed, having a pronounced distaste for water in all its uses, Sir Thomas MORE was a water user and a water drinker. He believed in freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, and his refusal to bow to the royal will in matters of religion cost him his head. He and others of distinction were beheaded by royal command.
Sir James MORE a member of the family was an ancestor of Franklin ROOSEVELT. One of the first settlers of New England was Edmund MOORE a proprietor of Newbury, Massachusetts, a descendant of the English MORES. Later the family moved to Kentucky.
A descendant, William Thomas MOORE, was born in Henry County, Kentucky. He was a clergyman, journalist and author. He was the author of "Views of Life, and the living pulpit of the Christian Church".
George MOORE lived at "Thomsmor Plantation". He had in early days brought horses from Europe across the mountains that bred some of the finest race horses in Kentucky. Later he moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he owned a racing stable and a feed store.
Charles MOORE, the son of George MOORE, was a builder and contractor. He laid the plans for the new post office at Harrison, Arkansas and other buildings in Oklahoma and Missouri.
Charles and Lunda Horn MOORE had five children – Theodore, infant, died in St. Louis, Kathleen born in St. Louis, Bernice, who died at five years, born in Harrison, Arkansas, Perry born in Burgman, Arkansas, and Frances born in Wainwright, Oklahoma.
Perry MOORE, son of Charles and Lunda Horn MOORE, married Golda KEMP, they had one son, Robert, who lives in New York State. Perry married a second time to Dorothy Luella BOWMAN, daughter of Forest and Carrie Potter BOWMAN. Her grandparents were Chester and Martha Curtis POTTER.
Perry and Dorothy had five children – William R., who graduated from Hillsdale High School, two years at Spring Arbor Seminary and from Michigan State University B.A. in 1972. William is the group living supervisor of Camp Highfields, Lansing, Michigan. William married Diane L. KRAFT of Lansing in the Chapel on Michigan State Campus October 30, 1971.
Diane is a graduate of the Greenville High School 1968 and of Michigan State University, M.A., 1975. She is a teacher in the Lansing schools. Diane is the daughter of Hubert WESLEY and Ruth HANSEN KRAFT. Her grandparents were John WESLEY and Dagmar HANSEN KRAFT, and Hans Martin and Dagney HANSEN.
Patricia Joy MOORE, a graduate of Hillsdale High School, and the Judson College in Chicago, married Donald Wayne FREESE in the Baptist Church in Hillsdale July 30, 1961. They have one daughter, Kimberly Sue.
Donald is a graduate of Judson College in Chicago. Donald and Patricia joined the Bacon St. Baptist Church in Hillsdale in their early teens. They were active members of the Baptist Church in Chicago, and are now both active in the Baptist Church in Jackson. Donald is a leader of the choir and Patricia is a Sunday school teacher. Donald is a foreman of a construction company and Patricia is district supervisor of Tupperware Company in Jackson.
Donald is the son of Clayton and Margaret Ennis FREESE and the grandson of Bertram and Minnie ENNIS.
David Phillip MOORE, a graduate of Hillsdale High School and Jackson Business College, married Linda Lee RUSSEL in the Little Baptist Church in Hillsdale January 10, 1966. Linda is the daughter of Robert M. and Geraldine MITCHELL RUSSELL and the granddaughter of Walter E. and Gladys Smith RUSSELL and Elmer and Mary MITCHELL. She was a graduate of Hillsdale High School and a course in painting at Adrian College.
David and Linda had twin boys – Alec Lee and Derek Geoffery. Alec Lee died at birth and is buried in the Frontier Cemetery. A third child, Devon Joseph, was born August 7, 1970. David and Linda make their home in Jackson where David is a foreman in Jackson Plastic Company.
Richard Lee MOORE and Branda ABORGAST, both graduates of Hillsdale High School, were married in the Free Methodist Church in Hillsdale May 1, 1976.
Susan MOORE married Jack WEBB in Hillsdale. The children are Jason WADE and Valerie AGNES.
Kevin Jeffery MOORE is still at home with his parents.
Frances MOORE, daughter of Charles and Lunda HORN MOORE, was born in Wainwright, Oklahoma. She married Gordon LOTT, now deceased. They had two children – Richard and Karen.
Richard graduated from Hillsdale High School and Hillsdale College. He was affiliated with Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He is the sales manager over the greater Detroit area for the Hotpoint Company.
He married Nancy HENNING of Birmingham, Michigan, in the Presbyterian Church in Birmingham. Nancy was a graduate of Hillsdale College and was affiliated with Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.
Richard and Nancy have two children. Douglas, a freshman at the University of Michigan; and Kimberly, who is in high school in Livonia, Michigan. Their home is in Kimberly Oaks, Michigan.
Karen LOTT married Kenneth DENNING in the College Baptist Church in Hillsdale. Kenneth is a graduate of the University of Michigan and is a statistician in the Capitol in Lansing.
They had four children - Karrie Lee: Kenney and Kent, twins: and Kathy Ann. Karrie Lee graduates from Harry Hill High School in June. Kenney and Kent are in Junior High as is Kathy Ann.
Karen is employed as the head of the mortgage and loan department of the Michigan National Bank of Lansing.
After her children were grown Frances MOORE LOTT married a second time to Joseph BRUNO. Joseph is a foreman in the Essex Wire Factory of Hillsdale. He has two sons of a former marriage, John and Paul. Frances is an active member of College Baptist Church and several clubs and organizations.
DAWLEY FAMILY
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The first DAWLEY to come to America was John DAWLEY who swore allegiance to the King of England in the spring of 1678 at Lynn, Massachusetts. After years later he moved to the Rhode Island area with his family settling on the "Great Plain" in North Kingstown, Rhode Island.
John DAWLEY was the son of Michael DAWLEY who remained in Ireland. John DAWLEY and his father were born in Lisnegarvey, now Lisburn Down and Antrim Counties, North Ireland.
John DAWLEY died 1752 at Exeter, Rhode Island. Lydia, his wife, died in 1749. They are buried in the DAWLEY-SPRAGUE Cemetery at Exeter. Of the children of John and Lydia DAWLEY, John Jr. married Mary TRIPP; Michael married Freelove ALLEN; Samuel married Diser SPRAGUE; Daniel married Hannah BORDNER SWEET; Nathan married Alice WHITFORD; William married Elizabeth; Lydia married Sylvester BORDNER; and Sarah married James SWEET.
Daniel who married Hannah BORDNER SWEET was born in 1720 and died in 1764. Job, his son, married Lois STAFFORD, the daughter of Captain Amos STAFFORD and Katherine CARDER April 7, 1764. The STAFFORDS came to Warwich, Rhode Island from Warwichshire, England.
Ebenezer, son of Job, born in 1768 in Kent County, Rhode Island, married Mary BABCOCK in Oneida, New York. Mary was born in 1770 at North Stoningham, New London, Connecticut. She died July 2, 1833. Ebenezer died February 11, 1841 at McConnellsville, New York. Of his children, Ebenezer Jr. married Jane PERRY in Onieda, New York; Martha married William W. AVERY in 1829. They were the foster parents of Loren GOODRICH, former mayor of Hillsdale and a Hillsdale druggist. They are buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery. Nathaniel married Sarah DELANO of New York. Nathaniel purchased a section of land in what is now Somerset but returned to New York and is buried in McConnellsville. Emma married William FISH and is buried in the Oak Grove Cemetery, Hillsdale.
Lovina DAWLEY married Timothy Mitchell and is buried at Brookside, Tecumseh, Michigan. Descendants of Lovina and Timothy MITCHELL in this area are Helen Spencer SMARTT, Lena H. MATTHEWS, Irene BOONE, Patterson HULL, Pauline Boone BATER, and descendants of Walter Mitchell BRONSON.
Joseph Bross DAWLEY married Mary COOLIDGE. Descendants are Lois MARKS, and the descendants of Lovina and Perry ALLISON.
William E. DAWLEY, born in Oneida, New York 1811, died December 21, 1881 in Adams Township and is buried in Northlawn Cemetery, North Adams. William married Margariette KEYSER, born in New York 1822, died June 14, 1903. She was the daughter of Henry KEYSER and Sally CONNER.
Susan Theatus DAWLEY, born October 1860, in Adams Township, married Lemuel Ellsworth KIES June 11, 1884, at Buffalo, New York. They made their home in Jerome, Michigan. Their children were Freida Odelle who married Ira WERTENBERGER. June 4, 1919; Frank William married Renah THOMPSON of Hillsdale April 9, 1919; Lynn HORATIO married Frances CALHOUN January 2, 1913 in Hillsdale; Howard Ray married Lestia JEFFERY in Hillsdale November 20, 1920; Mary Odelle DAWLEY, married Jasper BRADEN December 22, 1870 at North Adams. The family lives in Charlotte.
Henry Ebenezer DAWLEY born 1843 died January 21, 1911 in Adams Township. He married Frances Janette CHOATE, daughter of Silas CHOAT and Oral CROSBY. Frances DAWLEY born November 19, 1803 died march 20, 1922 and is buried at Northlawn, North Adams.
William Silas DAWLEY, son of Henry and Frances DAWLEY, born in Adams Township February 1, 1889 married Cora CHURCH, daughter of E. W. and M. Vandenberg CHURCH. Their two sons Howard and Clarence moved to Florida. William was the manager of the Standard Oil Company in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.
Howard DAWLEY's daughter is a Colonel in the Army Nursing Corps at Houston, Texas. Charles, the son of Henry and Frances DAWLEY, born in North Adams March 14, 1867, married December 19, 1888 to Alta Matilda FULLER, daughter of Wilmath and Sophronia Strong FULLER of Adams Township.
Charles DAWLEY in 1915 received word that he was the heir to a castle in Ireland with thousands of dollars in back taxes due the Irish government as the last descendant of the "Irish DAWLEY's". Charles was the assistant manager of the Standard Oil Company of Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. The father of Alta Fuller DAWLEY, Wilmath FULLER, was a descendant of Dr. Samuel FULLER who came over on the Mayflower. Wilmath and Will CARLETON were related and close friends. They often wrote poetry together. Some of Will CARLETON's poems carry lines written by Wilmath FULLER.
Sophronia, mother of Alta, was a descendant of Ethan ALLEN, the leader of the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont. Her family were early settlers of Somerset. Several belonged to the Somerset Church and were active in the community.
The brick house built by Wilmath FULLER from bricks made on his farm still stands on the North Adams road. Wilmath made bricks in the kiln on the back of the farm and donated them to help rebuild Hillsdale College after the fire in 1874. M
ark DAWLEY, son of Charles and Alta Fuller DAWLEY, married Kathleen MOORE the daughter of Charles and Lunda Horn MOORE at the home of her parents in Frontier, Michigan, September 4, 1922.
Mark DAWLEY was educated in the North Adams school, and Hillsdale College, taught school in the Pease, Mud Lake and the North Adams schools. During World War I, he joined the Army and was sent from Columbus Barracks to Washington, D.C. He was Chief of Staff of the Casualty Division in the State War and Navy Building, Washington, D.C. He taught school for a time after he returned and later became a dispatcher for the New York Central Railroad.
Kathleen DAWLEY was educated in the Frontier, Hillsdale Public Schools, Hillsdale College and graduated from the American University in Washington, D.C. as a genealogist. She has been active in community affairs, was elected the "First Lady of Hillsdale in 1949."
The four generation DAWLEY farm was sold by Mark DAWLEY in 1965 to Donald HARTZELL. The present owner of part of the farm is Franklin HARTZELL. He has built a house where the original DAWLEY house stood.
The three brothers- Nathaniel, Joseph and William - each purchased a section of land from the Monroe territory for the land at $1.25 an acre, signed by Syman COVELL at Monroe. Also tax receipts for over a hundred years. A gate handmade by Ebenezer DAWLEY in Rhode Island is still kept by the DAWLEYs.
In the early years a church was built on Hoxie road. The DAWLEYS attended church here and from this church in 1836 was buried the daughter of Joseph DAWLEY. She was drowned in a spring on her father's farm. Her death was believed to be the first death in the township. She was buried in a little corner cemetery on the Joseph DAWLEY farm. It is now owned by Dayton LYONS. The bodies were long ago moved to Northlawn Cemetery. Her monument stands on the plot belonging to William DAWLEY. On the large monument are recorded the names of the four little girls of William and Margaret DAWLEY who died of typhoid fever.(end of page 285)
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Dorothy and Perry met at Alma College and were married in 1933 after Perry graduated in 1932 with an A.B. degree.
Before coming to Hillsdale Perry was a District Manager for Chevrolet Motor Company working out of the Detroit office for eight years. In Hillsdale Dorothy and Perry have been active in local activities. They are active members of the First United Presbyterian Church, both being elders. Dorothy and Mabel PIFER were the first Women Elders to be ordained in the Hillsdale Church. She is a past Deacon and was active in Sunday School and Women's organizations. Other activities include the Camp Fire Council and leader, Y-Teen Council, Woman's Club and Patroness of Rho Gamma chapter of Chi Omega Sorority at Hillsdale College. In 1957 she was named Hillsdale's First Lady by Beta Pi chapter of Beta Sigma Phi for her community service.
Besides owning and operating his business which employs approximately 35 employees Perry has been active in community affairs, especially in the local industrial development efforts. He was the first President of the Hillsdale County Chamber of Commerce in the years 1953-54-55 and to its successor the Hillsdale County Industrial Development Commission. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Hillsdale State Savings Bank. He has raised, owned and judged many English Pointer Field Trial champions and was a board member of the American Field Trial Club of America for twenty years being its president for two years. He is also a lover of the Tennessee Walking Horse and the family have owned and shown them for several years. - Dorothy D. Gray
HARRIET (BALL) HALE
Shortly after graduation she joined the faculty of her alma mater as an instructor and later associate professor in the English department.
It was in 1950 that she switched to the college's admission department where she remained until her retirement in 1974. For most of that nearly a quarter of a century she was director of admissions. During that time the enrollment grew from about 600 students to over 1,000.
For five years she edited the college catalogue and was given honorable mention by the American College Public Relations Association for the pace-setting 1960-61 catalogue. She was active in various professional groups, serving at one time as president of the Michigan Association of College Registrars and Admissions Offices. For three years she was on the committee which selected the National Merit Scholarship finalists.
Her husband, Herbert F. HALE, has been with The Hillsdale Daily News for 45 years, serving in various capacities including that of publisher. A son, Dr. Christopher S. HALE, is on the faculty of the University of Alberta in Edmonton where he is a professor of Germanic languages.
HALL
Five of these children did not survive early childhood, for four of them information is not available. It appears only three were destined for longevity.
Mary FARMER (1854-1937) married ? YOUNG and had four children. One of these, Hattie YOUNG, married RUSSELL, and they were the parents of Hazel RUSSELL HALL. Mrs. HALL has lived in Hillsdale her entire life. Hazel Russell HALL was born in 1895. She married Guy HALL (1891-1946) in 1923. Mr. HALL was in the dry cleaning business in Hillsdale for twenty-three years.
The HALL's only child, Jack, was born in 1926. He graduated from Hillsdale High School in 1944. He was with the 5th army mountain troops in Italy in World War II. He attended Hillsdale College and opened a photography studio in Hillsdale in 1954.
Jack HALL married Marilyn ROOSE, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. C.V. ROOSE of Hillsdale. They have a daughter Jackie.
HALLECK-SAMPSON
Both Gladys and Lucile have been members of the Hillsdale Methodist Church since coming to the city in 1906. Prior to that, their affiliation was with the Wheatland Congregational Church from the time of their birth. They are both long time members of the Twentieth Century Club.
Gladys has been a Red Cross volunteer for nearly thirty years. She was named First Lady of Hillsdale in 1955. She served as Worthy Matron of Wenona Chapter No. 162, O.E.S., in 1928-1929, and is the oldest living Past Matron of the Chapter. At the time of her marriage to Mr. SAMPSON, she was employed at the old Hillsdale County National Bank.
Lucile's professional life has included many years as a teller at the Hillsdale State Savings Bank and executive secretary at Hillsdale College.
Grant HALLECK was born September 8, 1865, in Wheatland Township, the second child of Hardin and Helen Martha WOOD HALLECK. He attended the academy at Wheatland. He died in Hillsdale, February 24, 1941. Grant HALLECK married Grace A. JONES, daughter of Walter and Ay BOWERMAN JONES, September 24, 1888, in Raisin Township, Lenawee County. Grace A. JONES graduated from the Raisin Valley Seminary at Adrian in 1885.
Walter and Amy Jones, grandparents of Gladys and Lucile HALLECK, ran the Raisin Valley Seminary. Laura HAVILAND came through underground to the seminary, bringing with her, Liza PAYNE, a colored lady. Liza PAYNE worked for many years for Mr. and Mrs. JONES at the seminary. For many years after, it was not known where Liza PAYNE went after leaving the area. About five years ago, cousins of Gladys and Lucile visited them from Abilene, Kansas, and recognized a picture of Liza PAYNE. She had gone from Raisin Valley to Abilene, Kansas, where she worked for a lawyer who had lost his wife. She helped to raise his two sons, who respected her as a mother.
Hardin HALLECK, son of Isreal and Laura JENNINGS HALLECK, was born in Ontario, New York, January 2, 1818. He married Helen Martha WOOD, October 20, 1859, at Wheatland. Helen Martha was the fourth child of Freeman and Marilla GATES WOOD, and was born November 30, 1827, at Macedon, New York. Hardin HALLECK died August 24, 1897. His wife died in Wheatland, November 4, 1898. Their home for many years was near Hudson.
Isreal HALLECK was born in St. Lawrence County, New York, November 15, 1789. He died in Wheatland Township, October 1, 1866. He married Laura JENNINGS, who was born in New York, in 1789.
Freeman WOOD was born August 7, 1791, at Pelham, Massachusetts, to Levi and Bethany Fuller WOOD. On December 24, 1816, he married Marilla GATES, daughter of (end of page)
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Freeman WOOD served in the War of 1812 in Captain Noah FULLER's company of riflemen, a company that was raised largely in the town of Macedon. Captain FULLER was a brother of Bethany (FULLER) WOOD. In the removal of the family to Michigan, Bethany (FULLER) WOOD, then widowed, joined: in fact, she made here home with Freeman and Marilla WOOD after the death of Levi WOOD, her husband. Freeman WOOD was a man universally trusted and transacted much business for others. He died May 15, 1867. Marilla Gates WOOD died October 27, 1883.
Levi WOOD was born at Middleboro, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, December 12, 1755, the eldest son of Jedediah and Keziah (SAMPSON) WOOD. He married Bethany FULLER, at Pelham, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, June 17, 1787; and died at Macedon, Wayne County, New York, August 10, 1883.
From the records in the war department at Washington, D.C., at the time of the battle of Lexington, April 19, 1775, Levi WOOD was in Bridgewater, the town next north of Middleboro. He volunteered at once, saw much service, was present at and witnessed the surrender of Burgoyne at the battle of Saratoga, October 17, 1777. He volunteered for a short time enlistment on the rumored approach of the British from the north under Burgoyne, but his time had expired and was his compatriots he started for home, thinking the alarm was without justifiable foundation. Before he reached his home, he met with a band of soldiers under Colonel WARNER, rushing toward the north. Evidently Colonel WARNER had recent information, and was in need of strengthening his ranks: for the entire squad of returning men was drafted into service and assigned to Captain COOK's company. But for this chance meeting, he would have missed the battle of Saratoga and in later life could not have had the keen pleasure of relating the stirring incidents he there witnessed.
Following this victory, he was almost constantly in the field until 1781. He served under Colonels LEONARD, Ruggles WOODBRIDGE and WARNER, besides two short-term enlistment's on alarms.
It seems to be well established that he went out from Pelham in at least one of his later enlistments, and it may be put down for certain that during the Revolutionary War he lived there with his father's family, a pioneer, for Pelham was then a new country. The township of Pelham lies in the hill country, east of the Connecticut River, about twenty miles northeast of the city of Holyoke, Massachusetts. There he married Bethany FULLER, the daughter of a pioneer. There as many as eight of their children were born. From the time of his marriage he seems to have been quite an extensive dealer in land, and his name appears in many conveyances, in the early records of the office of the register of deeds for Hampshire County.
Early in the year 1801, he removed from Pelham to Macedon, now Wayne County, then Ontario County, New York, and again became a pioneer, taking proprietors' land, clearing it of heavy timber and making a home in the wilderness. Their first residence in Macedon was a log house. Again he became a man of affairs, and dealt much in land. He did not remove from the farm he first bought, but on it died, August 10, 1833, at the age of 77 years, 8 months and 29 days.
True to his Puritan breeding, Levi WOOD was early identified with the stern religion of the Pilgrims. He was a firm believer in personal piety, and it is a matter of family tradition that he sought with all his might and main to live an exemplary Christian life.
Bethany FULLER, wife of Levi WOOD, was the daughter of John and Lydia ALDEN (EDDY) FULLER, who went from the town of Halifax, Plymouth Colony, among the early immigrants to Pelham. She was of the purest Puritan blood, on the FULLER line a direct descendant of Dr. Samuel FULLER, the first American physician, a member of the Mayflower company and medical adviser to that historic band. John FULLER was a soldier in the Revolutionary army. Bethany FULLER WOOD died October 25, 1846, and is buried at Church's Corners.
While it is almost impossible for us of this generation to comprehend the privations that our pioneering ancestors endured, we do well not to dismiss the subject as one beyond our capacity to measure and consequently not worth while to contemplate. The struggles they made; the common comforts of life they relinquished, the meagre joys, as the world measures joys, that came to them, and their final conquest of every discouragement, are subjects that should often engage our serious thought. We must remember that the sacrifices and achievements were theirs; the fruition our own.
As was their father, so several of the sons and daughters of Levi WOOD were twice pioneers. First they moved from Macedon, Wayne County, New York, to Columbia Township, Lorain County, Ohio. These removals were made during a period of ten years, beginning about 1830, and the young couples, with such small children as had come with them, made the long trip with wagons. For the most part the families went singly over the long and dreary way, for it lay almost entirely through a new country, a portion of which was regged and forbidding to the traveler. Such roads as had been then laid out were cut and rutted by the incessant tramp of pioneers to the then new west. In Ohio, they bought new land, felled trees, built for themselves log houses and planted such crops as they might. They had little money; their worldly possessions they carried in the wagon, with themselves and their children. Courage, of the sort that seems to come with heroic breeding, was their largest asset.
Here they lived, for the most part, seven years. They found the soil fertile, but it was heavy and rebellious to work. Other pioneers were pouring in, some of whom had ready money, and these wanted land that was partly subdued. So the most of our people sold their beginnings, and once more took to the pioneers' trail for the further west. They had good reports of Hillsdale County, and thitherward made their course.
Again they entered the unbroken forest: again they built log houses; again they cleared small patches for crops and began life anew, as they had done in Ohio. Again their largest asset was courage. The work was heavy; the returns were light, except that they saw in the future a better life for those they had brought into the world. Perhaps they hoped that we, who were to be born, would look on their labors and call them good.
It should be a matter of pride, to such of us as may claim it, that our fathers and mothers were born in those log houses. For while, by some unthinking persons, it may be regarded as an accident of life, we have the right to view the matter as another expression of the indomitable courage of the pioneers. It was no accident that our grandparents left a thickly settled and well established community, where were present many of the so-called luxuries and all the conveniences of the civilization of a century ago, to start life anew in the forest. Nor was it an accident that they repeated the adventure after the Ohio experience. Instead of accident, it marked our ancestors for possessing the stuff from which heroes are molded. We may claim the blood of heroes more surely and securely than may the degenerate descendants of a single person who made a dash to fame. The heroism of our ancestors extends back through countless privations practiced by fathers and sons – a continuous line to the founding of Plymouth Colony. For generations it seems to have been the one certain legacy a father and mother had to leave to their children. And it was no light or trifling bequest.
That many of the grandchildren of Levi and Bethany (Fuller) WOOD, born to the privations of a hut in the wilderness, grew to useful and cultured manhood and womanhood is no matter for surprise. On the contrary, it was the natural condition. Privations do not kill, except when their is wanting the courage and resolution that come as the most precious inheritance of good breeding. Centuries of valiant, resolute, Christian living cannot be daunted by a few years of privation. Untoward conditions may test the character that is so accoutered, but nothing short of the will of God can turn it back. That culture should break out in a log house, only proves that long before the log house was built, there was a term of cultural preparation – usually a protracted term of character building. With our line it was in the consecrated lives of our Puritan ancestors. For a century and a half they had been engaged in the divine mission of building human characters that were worthwhile. They have been called empire builders; if they were so, the foundations of their empire were laid deep and firm in moral attributes and devotion to purpose. They may have been short on creature luxuries, but they were long in the divine luxury of unselfish living: they were strong on devotion to principles. And this has come to us as our richest heritage. It is ours, not for the asking, but in-born just naturally ours.
MAESTRO EDWYN HAMES Then very swiftly pointing to the great (end of page)
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For this is where the St. Joe River makes a turn in the heartland of America. This is South Bend, Indiana, where the orchestra and patrons are following the baton of their only permanent conductor, Dr. Edwyn HAMES.
Of course, the South Bend symphony orchestra shared Edwyn HAMES with Hillsdale College until he retired in 1966 as chairman of the Fine Arts Division. Oddly enough the St. Joe River begins just outside Hillsdale.
They have been following his lead for forty years. The early moustache he had at the orchestra's inception is gone. So is the bushy, brown hair. Now the hair is white, smartly cut with a touch of sideburns. The face seems remarkably the same. There are some smile lines, etched perhaps a little deeper by occasional trips to the sun country. But, in spite of the years, Ed HAMES is still a young man.
He must have been some kind of teacher. He taught not only the skill of playing an instrument, he taught the enjoyment of music. Dr. HAMES wanted all the people of Hillsdale to enjoy good, live music. So he organized the Hillsdale College-Community Symphony in 1951. Carried on by Professor Robert LINT, it remains the only regularly performing instrumental musical group on the campus. Incidentally, Robert LINT played the oboe as one of the forty-four members of the first South Bend symphony.
On October 22, 1972, when Dr. HAMES conducted his final concert in South Bend, after a most successful forty-year span, he added a touch of nostalgia. The stage was set for the present orchestra of 97 members. But there were only forty-four musicians on stage and what seemed like an ocean of empty chairs. The musicians in view were playing the same type and number of instruments as had been played in the first concert forty years ago on December 17, 1933. Also they played Weber's "Overture to Oberon," a selection played by that first orchestra.
What a dramatic change when the other chairs filled and the magnificent old auditorium reverberated to a montage of Debussy melodies. It was only then that the audience realized the smaller orchestra had been a near replica of the first orchestra. Five of the original members of the orchestra are still playing. One is Mrs. HAMES, the former Laura BRIGGS - an elegant, beautiful lady. Not only does she play in the second violin section, she is the most delightful hostess in their home on Hillsdale Street or in the apartment in South Bend.
One of the instruments that Edwyn HAMES has used too excellent advantage in South Bend is the marvelous, old, roccoco orris theater. Fortunately, it sees to have had loving care. Certainly it is a joy for the listener. In an age when music halls of great acoustical quality are rare, it is a delight.
Edwyn HAMES' intriguing accent derives from his native Australia where he first learned to caress a violin at about nine years of age. By the time he was fourteen he was the national amateur champion of Australia. At seventeen young Edwyn won a three-year scholarship at the University of Melbourne. This study culminated in 1923 with a solo diploma in violin with first class honors at the University.
In 1924 two American impresarios went to Australia to start a Chautauqua circuit. In doing so, they drastically changed the life of the young Australian violinist. The Americans chose three Aussies to tour Australia for nine weeks. One was John Brownlee, who later became one of the Metropolitan's most celebrated baritones. Another was a brilliant pianist, Dolly Stewart. Both were considerably older than the gifted young violinist, Edwyn HAMES.
The tour was a success and Melbourne University had been generous in allowing Ed time to tour. Also, realizing their young violinist could out-perform his professors, Melbourne wisely gave young Ed his music degree.
The Australian tour was so favorable the performers were offered a Canadian-United States tour as a reward. But only HAMES and Miss STEWART accepted. BROWNLEE went to Paris and was replaced by another baritone. To the young university graduate the idea was a lark. He would have his expenses paid and, in addition, get a salary. The handsome, curly haired youngster couldn't resist the blandishments of the North Americans.
Three months were spent in the States and three in Canada. Sometimes the group traveled by train, sometimes by elegant Pierce Arrow motor car, but the worst was by "Model T" touring cars with flapping curtains in the bitter winter cold of Canada.
The tour concluded and Ed HAMES engaged passage home from Vancouver. But once again, a friend suggested a tour: a breathtaking trip around the world. From Winnipeg, the trip was to go to Australia via Chicago, New York, London, and other European and Eastern capitals.
The fortunes of fate were to stop HAMES in Chicago. There a friend persuaded him to play five more tours in the United States.
Then Ed met a girl, a pianist, on the tour. He promptly decided he was no longer interested in returning home immediately. A job beckoned in South Bend. His newly accompanist then was pianist Mary PURCELL. Mary was kind enough to invite Ed's girlfriend to stay with her when she came to visit in South Bend from Columbus, Ohio.
Eventually the Columbus girl no longer found the trip to South Bend attractive. But Ed had long since been attracted to the delightful young lady who played his accompaniment. Their harmony had come to have a different meaning.
For Ed and Mary, 1927 was a most eventful year. They were to be married. Plans were made for the ceremony.
Suddenly Ed was arrested! An immigration agent from Washington accused him of being in the United States illegally. But Ed was unflappable. He knew his passport was in order. The court in Chicago agreed, but the passport had to be sent to Washington for processing. Incorrectly he was told he could visit his mother who had moved to Windsor, Ontario.
As Ed and Mary, his fiancee, tried to return to the United States, the inevitable happened. HAMES could not return by just giving his passport number which was in Washington. Since Mary was an American citizen, they could marry in Canada and he could return as her husband. The ceremony took place in St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Windsor. Then the bride returned to the United States to start proceedings to get her husband back across the border.
It took time but eventually Ed returned to South Bend and started the long procedure to obtain American citizenship. It finally came when Mary and Ed's oldest child was eight years old.
In the meantime, HAMES had been busy in the Fine Arts Studio in South Bend. He was a popular young violinist with many people wishing to study with him.
In nearby Plymouth, Indiana, where the young musician conducted a small ensemble, the idea was born for a South Bend Civic Orchestra. In 1933 the new orchestra played its first four-series concert with HAMES as conductor.
Since 1926 Edwyn HAMES had also been the violin instructor a Hillsdale College. He came to Hillsdale for one day each week by train. He would depart from South Bend at 3:00 a.m. with arrival at Hillsdale between 6:30 or 7:00. After teaching all day, he gratefully settled down on the hard, horse-hair seat of the train coach to arrive finally back in South Bend at 11:00 p.m. It was a long, long day, but to the exuberant young musician, fatigue came rarely. Music was in his soul and he enjoyed sharing it with others.
Suddenly Edwyn HAMES' life changed rather drastically. President Willfred MAUCH of Hillsdale College invited Ed to become head of the college music department. For ten years he had spent a very long day each week in Hillsdale. Now, he was to have two homes - one in Hillsdale and another in South Bend.
Suddenly, the dynamic little man from "down under" transferred his energy and immense talents to a college campus. But something was missing for Ed. His music degree from Melbourne - a fine one - was not the same as the rest of the faculty. So, he determined to rectify the situation. He would go back to school!
Never one to choose the easy way out, he decided to get his A.B. degree from Hillsdale itself. This meant he would be attending school with his own students! But he let this bother him not. With fifty-five hours transferred from the University of Melbourne, he took the other required courses. He even climbed to the fourth floor of the Central Hall to attend compulsory chapel.
At last, the commencement of 1943 finally arrived and Edwyn HAMES was the possessor of a recognized American degree. He didn't play or conduct any better, but he had learned many things. After all, he was a Bachelor of Arts.(end of page 289)
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III. Edna J. ELARTON born November 10, 1914, at Hillsdale, married Robert E. GEHRISCH, born March 12, 1916, children: Jo Anne, born July 9, 1938, at Galion, Ohio, married Hal De GRAY (divorced), one daughter, Kathy, born March 19, 1957; later married Carl Wesley DOVENBARGER II, born March 9, 1941, three children; Teri, born November 20, 1963, Jodi, born February 10, 1965, and Carl Wesley III, born March 20, 1968; Jerry Lloyd, born June 6, 1942, at Galion, Ohio married Jackie EVERETTE, born October 19, 1939, one son, Shannon Patrick, born August 9, 1969.
IV. Marjorie E., born January 18, 1921, at reading, married Roy Duane COOLMAN, born March 20, 1922, (divorced), two children: Vaughn Gayle, born January 25, 1945, at Sycamore, Illinois, married Elaine Joan DELLER, born April 13, 1943, one daughter Vanessa Renee, born March 14, 1975, and Keith Duane, born May 19, 1952, U.S.A.F., married Donna Gail TOPONCE, born December 5, 1953, one son, Gregory Glen, born May 2, 1971.
V. Doris M. ELARTON, born may 3, 1923, at Edon, Ohio, married Harlen SNYDER, born July 19, 1921, children: Ruth Anne, born July 18, 1940, at Montgomery, Michigan, married Orian LaVern Gary, born October 20, 1937, two daughters: Mona Vee, born July 22, 1961, and April Sue, born April 5, 193; Douglas Lamoine, born February 13, 1942, at Montpelier, Ohio, married Jane FINK, born August 25, 1944, children: Peter Ken, born March 5, 1964, Penny Sue, born June 30, 1969, and Charles Paul, born September 15, 1971; Robert Clark, born November 26, 1943, at Camden, married Norma LATHROM, born January 25, 1944, one daughter, Taunya Jo, born July 19, 1969; Mary Lou, born December 30, 1946, at Oceanside, California, married Stuart LIVENSPARGER, born November 4, 1947, U.S.M.C., two sons: Tyler, born April 16, 1969, and Justin Douglas, born February 27, 1973; Gary Harlan, born October 20, 1950, at Montgomery, married Penny Sue RUSSELL, born August 28, 1951, their children: Jacob Robert, born December 11, 1974, and Joshua Russell, born November 19, 1975; Angela Dawn, born April 30, 1965.
Harley and Stella ELARTON lived most of their lives on the farm in Woodbridge Township. - Mrs. Lena (Elarton) Hartman
FIELD
Elijah S. FIELD (3669) born in Lansing, New York, May 17, 1827, with his wife, Rhoda A. Hillard FIELD, moved from Crawford County, Ohio, to Ransom township, Hillsdale County, Michigan, in 1854. He built a sawmill on Silver Creek. Three times he was refused admission to the Army because of disability. He moved to the village of Frontier and opened a general store in 1866. President Johnson appointed him post-master. In 1872 he purchased the farm one and one-half miles west of Frontier, southwest corner of Hillsdale and Montgomery roads, now known and registered with the State Department of Agriculture as FIELD Corner Farm. He moved there that year.
He built a house and barn on this farm and passed away March 9, 1876. His widow managed the farm until her death in 1897. She left a family of three daughters, who have married and moved from the area, and four sons: Noah S. FIELD (5175) 1855-1933; Byron E. FIELD (5176) 1861-1935; Orange F. FIELD (5177) 1864-1924; and James B. FIELD (5178) 1866-1936. All lived their entire lives in the county except James, who lived in Jackson. Together with their parents, all are buried in the Frontier cemetery. Family religion, Prostestant; politics, Conservative Republican.
After their mother's death, Byron and Orange formed a partnership and bought out the other heirs. In 1906, Orange bought out Byron and continued the farm until his death, May 29, 1924. His widow, Alta Blackford FIELD, born August 29, 1866, became the owner of the farm until her death, August 23, 1936. They had two sons: Raymond C. FIELD, born May 21, 1890, and Marshall E. FIELD, born May 16, 1899. Raymond died August 6, 1941, and Marshall became sole owner. On October 27, 1945, Marshall married Jennie I. HUKILL of Amboy. Both are now retired and they live on and maintain the homestead. Both are members of the First United Brethren Church in Hillsdale and its organizations. Mr. FIELD is Commander, Hillsdale County Veterans of World War I and Mrs. FIELD has the corresponding office in the Auxiliary.
Mr. FIELD has held various offices in Woodbridge Township including township clerk, and Justice of the Peace for twenty-seven years, longest of anyone in the township's history. He was also moderator of the local school district until consolidation. He is a member of the National Tree Farmer's Organization, National Wildlife Federation, and both Michigan United Conservation Club and charter member of the Hillsdale County affiliate. He has been informed by the Michigan Department of Conservation, now Michigan Natural Resources, that since fire destroyed all their records some years ago, he probably has the only complete file of departmental publications in existence.
Mrs. FIELD, descendant of a pioneer family in southern Hillsdale County, was a theology student at Huntington College 1925-27, bookkeeper, office manager, medical nurses' aide, and former owner of Field Corners Aviary.
A family crest and coat of arms, a black shield with silver chevron, ornamented with three bundles of wheat and the motto "Sans-Dieu-Rien" (Without God Nothing) has been in existence for 1,000 years. - Marshall E. FIELD
FITZGERALD
In 1936, Earl married Wilma Janet WEBSTER (June 3, 1919-). Wilma is head checker for the local Kroger store and has been employed there for twenty-six years. Wilma was the youngest child and only daughter of Clarence W. WEBSTER (September 19, 1888-December 5, 1946), and Ruby May WEATHERWAX (April 10, 1894-August 24, 1968). They were married December 24, 1914, in Hillsdale County. Clarence and Ruby also had one son, Leo Gerald (March 5, 1916-), who married Altha BAKER (June 4, 1917-), in 1936. Leo and Altha had three children, Charlotte Ann (October 3, 1941-), Brenda Lee (February 25, 1949-), and Gary Baker WEBSTER (July 5, 1953-). Clarence WEBSTER was the son of George W. WEBSTER (August 2, 1848-July 8, 1930), and Jennie WHISTLER (1854-1916). George and Jennie were the parents of seven other children: Orin, Nathan, Forest, and one son who died in childhood; three daughters, Flossie (UNDERHILL), Francais (HAMMOND) who died in childhood. Ruby was the daughter of William A. WEATHERWAX (November 12, 1869-August 16, 1947) of Canandiagua, New York. William married Cordellia E. HAWES (1876-October 3, 1921), daughter of Major and Mary HAWES on December 4, 1892. The HAWES family traveled to Hillsdale County around 1877, in a covered wagon. The hazardous trip forced the family to leave an infant daughter in New York. Mary never got over the loss of the child. When the girl was older and communicated with the family in Michigan, she decided to stay in New York with her aunts. She never came to Michigan. Cordellia had three brothers, Enos, Earnest, and Harry; all of whom settled near Mr. Pleasant.
Wilma and Earl are the parents of three daughters, Joyce Ann (April 12, 1937-), who is married to Frank A. STAWIARSKI (February 25, 1934-), son of Helen KOVLOWSKI (January 31, 1914-), and Francais L. STAWIARSKI (July 11, 1908-), Frank is the owner of Mister Frank and Sons, an outdoor jacket factory outlet in Hillsdale. They are the parents of three sons, Scott Thomas (April 27, 1960-), Mark Stephen (November 27, 1962-), and Michael Francias (November 27, 1962-).
Delores Jean was born March 24, 1944, in Jackson, after the family had moved there for two years, while Earl managed the Francis and High Street Kroger Store. She is married to Galen Bruce KIMLING (April 17, 1942-), son of Galen Joseph KIMLING (June 1, 1922,-December 31, 1965), and Evelyn Linnie YOUNG (January 18, 1920-). Delores and Bruce are the parents of one son, Douglas Earl (July 19, 1963-). Bruce is employed at Watkins Oil Transport in Hillsdale.
The youngest daughter, Elaine Marie, was born August 23, 1946, in Hillsdale, while the family lived at its present address at 71 South West Street. Elaine is married to Perry E. PALMER (July 16, 1942-), the son of Russell and Mildred PALMER of Lake Pleasant. They are the parents of two sons, Philip E. (April 1, 1965-), and William Fitzgerald (April 1, 1967-)....
The FITZGERALD family first came to Hillsdale County about 1850. John (1791-), of New Hampshire, and his wife Sally (1790-) of New York, settled in Jefferson Township. John was a farmer and little is known about his children.
John and Sally had a son, William (1807-), who brought his family west to Jefferson Township in 1858. He brought with him, his wife Armina (1816-) and four children, James (1839-), Ann (1845-), John William (1847-), and Ardell (1849-). He farmed forty acres in Jefferson township.
John William married Alice Ardell HATCH (November 6, 1850-December 12, 1932). Alice was born in Hornsville, New York, the daughter of David M. (May 21, 1819-March 10, 1898), and Elizabeth Alice "Katie" (1834-). David and Elizabeth were the parents of four children, George (1848-), Alice, Elmer (1856-), and Charles (1858-). Elmer and Charles were born in Michigan, the family arriving in Hillsdale County about 1854.
John William and Alice Ardell were the parents of five children, one dying in infancy and unidentified. Adalade (1870-), Eliza Alice (1873-), Irena (1874-), and William Ray (January 6, 1884-), the father of our subject, Earl FITZGERALD.
...In 1936, at the time of his marriage, Earl took his first job at the Penny Grocery Store, located at the site of the present Parker and Hayes law firm. The following year, he became a clerk in the Kroger store, located in the Ross Drugs building, then moved across the street to the current Sears Roebuck building. In 1944, Earl was promoted to manager and moved his wife and daughter, Joyce, to Jackson. He returned to Hillsdale in 1945, and managed the Kroger store here. In 1949, three months after the new Kroger store on Manning Street, was built, he was forced to resign as manager because of illness. He sold McNess products for a few years, then accepted the distributorship of the Toledo Blade newspaper in 1953, which he worked at faithfully for fifteen years.
In 1956, Earl was elected to his first public office, supervisor of the third ward of Hillsdale. He retained his position for the next twenty years. In 1966, he was elected Chairman of the Board of Supervisors. In 1969, when the law was passed that changed the county representation ratio, Earl became a Commissioner in one of the county's nine districts. He served as Vice-chairman in 1970-71 and Chairman of the County Commissioners in 1972-73-74. He is presently representing the board in the same capacity as he has in the last twenty years in public office. Earl FITZGERALD
FREED
James was the third of eight children born to William V. and Mary DAVID FREED, November 10, 1843, in Stark County, Ohio. His father died when he was thirteen years old. Shortly afterward, his mother moved to Woodbridge Township, Michigan, where she raised her family. She died there October 14, 1874.
James married Emma C. CRAWFORD in Eaton County, Michigan, November 22, 1884. Ema's parents were Ira E. and Lodemia CRAWFORD, of Ransom. James born May 22, 1864, died September 28, 1926.
James and Emma were the parents of six children: Ora, Olin, Benjamin, James, Matilda, and Blanche.
Ora never married. At the age of ninety, he is living at the Litchfield Manor.
Olin married Ethel OTT of Bowling Green, Ohio. He was employed for many years at the First National Bank in Hillsdale. Their only child, Ferris, married Dorothy Tubbs, and they reside in Traverse City, Michigan. Olin FREED died March 31, 1972 in Clinton Michigan.
Benjamin married Gladys BRAINERD on May 29, 1926, in Coldwater, Michigan. They were the parents of Mary (FREED) TEETER, Douglas J., and Phyllis (FREED) CUTHBERTSON. Benjamin was born October 27, 1892 and died October 8, 1957. Benjamin was a mailman until failing health forced him to retire in October 1951.
James married Maxine MOORE. They had six children: James II, Marcella, David, Gary, Margaret, and Melinda. James was born May 14, 1894 and died March 7, 1962.
Matilda (Tillie) married Roy V. MAY in August, 1925. They owned and operated the Maywood, a restaurant in Jonesville. They also made Tillie May Candies. Roy MAY died March 1, 1973. Roy and Tillie were the parents of June (MAY) DAVIS and Emma Lee (MAY) HOLTSBERRY.
Blanche married Franklin E. NORRIS in April 1928. He was a dairy farmer, and they lived in the Jonesville area. Franklin died June 17, 1975. Franklin and Blanche had two daughters. Marian married Roland BORTEL of Hillsdale. Charlotte married Donald DECKE of Grand Rapids. She passed away September 3, 1975. - Gladys FREED
GOFORTH
On July 13, 1838, John GOFORTH and James MORGAN recorded the deed for 160 acres of land in Fayette Township. They lived here for several years. On May 3, 1844 GOFORTH bought 160 acres of land from the U.S. Government, which was also in Fayette Township. This was under President Martin Van Buren.
By 1845, the family had increased to seven. Besides Sarah, there was William, John B., Jane and Parthena E. Jane died in 1846. About 1847 GOFORTH moved his family to Woodbridge Township.
In 1848 GOFORTH and MORGAN divided their joint land holding. In the April 22, 1850 Woodbridge election, Henry PRESTAGE, John GOFORTH, and Gideon G. KING were elected commissioners of Highways. In the 1851 township records the GOFORTH holdings consisted of 200 acres in Amboy Township. Their land started on the north side of Sampson road, where Woodbridge road crossed Sampson road the property ran north on both sides of Woodbridge road. The GOFORTH family lived in a big white house, west of a small deep lake known as GOFORTH Lake.
In 1858 William married Martha STAFFORD. In late winter, William went ice skating with a group of friends, took a chill which developed into pneumonia, from which he died January 8, 1859. Three days later his son William E. was born.
Between 1850-1860 three more children were born, Ellen, George and Delbert. John B. GOFORTH married Mary Ann HOWALD in 1860. Also John sold 125 acres of his land to George W. UNDERWOOD, who became Hillsdale's first mayor in 1869. In 1862, John sold the rest of his land to his son John B. Shortly after that he and his family moved further west.
John B. and Mary Ann his wife had three boys: William F. born in 1863; who died in 1864; John C. born 1868, who died at the age of twenty; and Frank born 1871. John B. GOFORTH died in 1895 of cancer, Mary lived with her son and family until her death in 1920.
Frank married Emma Jane RAINEY in 1896, to this union two children were born, Pansy Lorene and Cecil J. Pansy died of the fly in 1918, about twenty-two years of age. During these years William E. often visited in his uncle and later cousin's home. After Mary's death, Frank moved into Hillsdale, their new home was at 114 Budlong St. Frank GOFORTH was a painter and decorator. Cecil married Helene MURPHY in 1929. He lived in Pittsford at the time of his death.(end of page 549)
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William E. GOFORTH raised two daughters; Alta who lived with him and his second wife Mary Jane BANKER till grown, Hazel lived with her grandmother Mary Jane KLOTZ, Alta married William SKUREN and Hazel married J. Frederick PHELPS and had three daughters, Clara, Viola and Maxine.
Clara married Howard BIDLACK and had a family, Viola married Lowell SEELY and had three girls. Maxine married Ben RYAN and they have seven children; Ronald, Frederick, Douglas, Janice, Dennis and Deborah twins, and Michael [sic]. They have lived in Reading for a number of years. Ronald and Douglas are married and have families and live in Columbiaville, Michigan. Janice married John OYER and they have a son and live in Edon, Ohio. the three youngest children live at home.
Clara BIDLACK married Louis WOLL in 1972 and lives on Oak Street in Hillsdale – Mrs. Clara E. (Bidlack) Woll
HANSEN At the time of this writing, Jan. 1976, we have lived in Hillsdale County just four and one half years and have owned our 50 acres with West Grass Lake for approximately seven years. How did we get here? Our youngest son, Douglas, won a full academic scholarship to attend Hillsdale College. During his undergraduate years, he established himself as the best distance runner that the College had ever had. When he graduated in 1966, Magna Cum Laude, we had been to Hillsdale, so often that we wanted to live here: so we purchased the farm and the lake and, when my retirement came in 1971, we built a new home and a barn and became devoted residents of the county.
Helge was born October 5, 1907, in Copenhagen, Denmark and was brought to the U.S. in April of 1908, by his parents, Hans E. and Martha HANSEN. Dorothy was born April 29, 1909, at Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her parents are Gottlob and Birdella GUTEKUNST, were lifelong residents of Ann Arbor. My father was a journeyman upholsterer and sold furniture besides owning wn 88 acre farm just west of Ann Arbor. Dorothy's dad owned an old fashioned grocery store on Broadway for many years. All of our parents have been dead for several years and are interred near Ann Arbor. I have two brothers and a sister, all living. Dorothy had two sisters but Florence, the youngest of the trio, died of cancer two years ago. Her husband had also died some five years previously.
I was the oldest in our family, then came Ralph M. (1909), Rigmor (1912) and Erling (1917). Ralph, who is a University of Michigan mechanical engineering graduate, has operated his own engineering firm in St. Petersburg, Florida, for many years. Rigmor married Ernest SCHANK and has lived in Ann Arbor, all her life. They ran a large farm until subdivisions gobbled it all up. Then they purchased a pet store on the west side of Ann Arbor. Erling J. is a tool and die designer for the Ford Motor Corp. Ralph has a son and a daughter. Rigmor has one son and Erling has a son and a daughter.
Helge and Dorothy were a bit more prolific with four children - two sons and two daughters; the oldest daughter Alice Marie GROTH, of Minneapolis, Minnesota has two sons, Mathew and David and a daughter Susan. She is a graduate of Eastern Michigan University. Our oldest son Howard H. has one son Paul. He holds a degree from the University of Michigan, and a Ph D in Physics from New York Univ., he is employed by I.B.M. at its big development facility near Washington, D.C. Our youngest son Douglas E. and his wife Pat and baby Jonathan live in Hillsdale County, because he heads the Physical Education Dept., and acts as cross-country and track and field coach for Hillsdale College. their teams have compiled national records during his five year tenure. He and Pat are Hillsdale College graduates with Douglas earning a Ph D in Education, from Wayne State University. Our youngest daughter Leona M. has a daughter and a son and lives in the state of Washington. She is a graduate of the University of Michigan Dental Hygiene School and is a Dental Hygienist.
I have not attempted to trace my Danish ancestry. But one of my uncles told us that we were related to the King of Denmark, five generations removed. My father and mother were the only two of either family to immigrate to the U.S. and he came to escape military conscription.
He learned his trade well by practicing it in Germany, Austria, France and Switzerland. In the United States he worked several years for the J.L. Hudson Co. before going into business for himself at Ann Arbor. While going to College, I became a fairly good upholsterer and furniture man besides farming with my brothers. I hold an MS degree in engineering and more than 40 credit hours in education and a Life Certificate.
Dorothy has an AB degree from the University of Michigan. Dorothy's lineage is quite another matter. Her D.A.R. chart traces two ancestors to 1707, and 1709, and several more throughout the 18th century. Some of these ancestors fought in the War of Independence and others, the Civil War. One relative, Olive McCLOUTH, was my math teacher in Ann Arbor High School. A branch of the McCLOUTHS owned the huge McCLOUTH Steel Corp. near Monroe and became millionaires. But none of his wealth came to the MOSHER side which established itself in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan. An uncle, Frank SCHMIDT operated a tailor and dry cleaning shop in Mt. Pleasant. All of the people have now died except for an 84-year-old Aunt, Jenny SCHMIDT, who still resides in the old homestead. Dorothy's other sister, Leona AHN and her husband George AHN live near Harrisburgh, Pennsylvania. He is also retired.
So it has been with the HANSEN family. We trust that through education and training, it will continue to contribute to the growth and welfare of the United States. – Helge E. Hansen
HILTON
Charles was born May 16, 1863, and died May 28, 1931. Candace was born September 8, 1866, and died January 17, 1943. Their seven children are: Wava, October 26, 1891, married September 10, 1910 to Howard GAY. They had three children, Dorothy, married to Victor MYERS, Audra, married Richard BOTHEMLEY, both of Sturgis, Michigan, and Loyle, of Texas.
Blanche HILTON born January 10, 1892, married August 28, 1911 to Earl ROBINSON. Blanche died January 12, 1967, and Earl April 26, 1975. To this union seven children were born: Charley, married Wuphasia ALTAFFER, Lyle, married Phylis HEPKNER and Viola Verle, married Richard PRESSLER, all reside in Montpelier, Ohio. Lloyd married Zelda Mae RIGELMAN, resides in Palmetto, Florida. Dale married Maretta MOORE, resides at Pioneer, Ohio. Marlin married Glenna BIDLACK, resides at Camden, Michigan. Denzle married Loretto BLACK, resides in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.
James born in Steuben County, Indiana on January 22, 1895, he married Mary Ann BROWN October 10, 1917. They had three sons Dwyane, Merl and Burl who died in infancy and they had three other children. Merlin J., married Betty Lou ZEITER, who is deceased October 28, 1970. Merlin j. then married Donna BATES. Charley D. married Sherman COX, on March 8, 1952.
Virgil, July 12, 1900, married Lucy BRINER, on September 29, 1929. They lived on a farm in Woodbridge Township, and now reside in Reading, Michigan. Jessie, born in Woodbridge Township October 25, 1903, married David WHALEY November 11, 1943, reside in Pittsford, Michigan.
Dorah, born February 6, 1906, married Roscoe PERHAN October 9, 1940. They have three children: Sheva STIERS, Carol BABBS and Gerald, all of Cambria.
Ford born October 4, 1910, married Cleora FLICKINGER on January 28, 1945 and lived in Woodbridge Township on the old Homestead location until her death on September 19, 1963. Ford resides in Hillsdale, Michigan.
SAMUEL KERCHER
The war over, young KERCHER worked his way westward into Ohio, where around 1870, he married Caroline HUTSON, a twin daughter of John and Barbara HUTSON of English-Scottish background. Head markers in the Woodbridge Cemetery provide (page ends)
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Two children were born in 1872, in Ohio, to Samuel and Caroline KERCHER: |
