Allegan County, Michigan - Chapter 5: Centers of Population, 1907 (part 8 of 14)

His son, RoUin C. Round, of this review, the eldest in a family of nine children, was born in Clarendon, Vermont.^ July 13, 1831. He was twenty years of age when he made his first purchase of land, securing a tract on section 36, Hopkins township, Allegan county. He made further preparations for having a home of his own by his marriage on tlie 7th of May, 1854, to Miss Zorada Andrews, a daughter of Norton and Caroline (Root) Andrews, who came with their family from Ohio to Michigan in 1853. Mr. and Mrs. Round traveled life's journey together for about twenty-three years and were then separated by the death of the wife, who passed away leaving an only daughter, Clara A., who became the head of the household. After losing his first wife Mr. Round was again married on the 14th of October, i88i3, to Mrs. Martha Corbett, nee Baldwin, who came from New York and was married the first time in this county. She died December 26, 1902, after a happy married life of more than twentytwo years. She had two daughters by her first marriage: Ada, now the wife of Nelson Hull, of Hopkins ; and Ella, the wife of William Martin, of Hopkins. Both remained at home with their mother until their marriage. Mr. Round's daughter, Clara A. Round, remained as housekeeper for her father from the age of eighteen years until her marriage two years later to Rosell J. Gorton, who has since carried on her father's farm. They have three children : Rollin G., who is carrying on farming on the old homestead, having built a house in the same yard, and who married Alma Yates, by whom he has a daughter, Geneva Y. ; Mamie, the wife of Warren Hurley, a farmer of Otsego township, by whom she has two children, Carlos B. and Leon G. ; and Clyde B. Gorton, who is a student in the State Agricultural College at Lansing, Michigan.

The homestead farm comprises eighty acres of rich land, of which Mr. Round placed forty acres under cultivation. He erected the main part of the present house and made other .substantial improvements on the place. Since Mr. Gorton has taken charge he has added fifty-eight acres to the home place, beside two forty-acre tracts in Watson township, so tliat the farm now comprises altogether two hundred and eighteen acres. He has erected a large bank barn and altogether the farm is one of the best in the township. For fourteen years Mr. Round lived upon the farm belonging to his second wife and then removed to the village of Hopkins, where he was retired from active business cares, making bis borne in the village imtil the death of his second wife. He then returned to the old home farm in Hopkins township and has since lived with his daughter, Mrs. Gorton. In the early days he would take jobs at clearing land and making roads and causeways. He lived in an old log house for nearly twenty years, it being among the first built in the township, but his present residence was erected in 1873. In those early days much valuable timber was burne<l in order to clear the land and prepare it for the plow. Both he and his father were Democrats in political faith and he has served only as road commissioner, having no ambition or aspiration for public office. He has witnessed many changes in the county as the years have gone by and has worked diligently and persistently, allowing no obstacles to brook his path toward the goal of success. He is now comfortablv situated in life and in spirit and interests seems largely in his prime, although he has passed the Psalmist's span of three score years and ten.

John G. Ellinger, hving in Hopkins township, is a sturdy representative of the Teutonic race, which has been an important element in the civilization of the world. Its sons have gone into many districts and their characteristic enterprise and perseverance have made them good citizens and prosperous business men. To this class belongs Mr. ElUnger, who was born in Ravaria. Germany, December 10, 1838. He was a youth of fifteen years when, in 1853. he came to America, his brothers, Daniel and Christian, having crossed the Atlantic four years before. They were both located at that time in New York City, where they were conducting a store, and the subject of this review became a clerk in their establishment. After two years spent in that way he made his way to Michigan. His brother Daniel sold his interest in the store to Christian and also came to Allegan, where he established a clothing store six months before the arrival of John G. Ellinger, who came in July. t855. and again entered his brother's employ. He afterward worked on a farm and in a sawmill and was thus actively and busily employed until 1861. when he responded to the call of bis adopted country, enlisting at the first call for three years' men as a member of Company A, Third Michigan Cavalry. He was under the command of Captain Mover and his service for two and one-half years was with the companv. which be joined on its organization. For four and a half vears his time was devoted to military service and he was then honorably discharged. On re-enlisting, several members of the old regiment were assigned to Company F, of the Ninth Illinois Cavalry, and he continued with that command until the close of the war. He started on the Atlanta campaign under General Grierson, but the forces under that leader had to retreat and thus ultimately made him a participant in the battle of Nashville against Hood. He was afterward engaged in military operations in Mississippi, when his companv was out on a raid attempting to capture rebel near Corinth, Mississippi. This was in the second year of his service and he was disabled for three months. He was captured near Jackson, Mississippi, when his company was out on a raid attempting to capture rebel leaders, Mr. Ellinger being with the advance guard. He and his comrades had captured several Confederates that morning and he advanced beyond the regular force in order to learn which road to take. He rode into a squad of rebels, who, after chasing him for six or eight miles, succeeded in effecting his capture. He found that a member of this squad was a man who he himself had captured some time before and in return for the considerate treatment which Mr. Elhnger had extended to him he in turn received good treatment at the hands of the rebels, hut as his company pressed forward he was taken into the woods where they encamped. His gun and horse were sold to the highest bidder and he was offered a position as first lieutenant if he would join the Confederates. It is needless to say that he rejected the offer and watched an opportunity for escape. Lying down, he crawled as far as possible from the fire behind a log and toward morning he rose up and looked about him. He found that an old man was on guard. He then lay down again and arranging his blanket he crawled off on all fours. At length he heard the hounds in pursuit, but by trailing things behind him he cut off the scent of the dogs. At length he called at a house to make inquiries concerning a horse and was directed to a plantation, where he pretended to be one of Genera! Forest's spies. He saw a horse there hitched to the fence and also secured a sheepskin for a saddle. He had advanced four miles on his way when he saw four horses tied to a fence and he crawled down along by the side of the fence in order to obtain one of those horses, but the owners were out of the house near by and jumped on their horses before he had a chance to carry out his design. He crouched low into the fence corner, keeping low to the ground, and thus escaped notice, after which he returned to his own pony. At length he reached camp at nine o'clock in the morning and at once was fitted out with a horse, saddle and gun and again went into line as a scout. He was generally in the advance guard, which often placed him in a very hazardous position, and for some time he served as corporal on the staff of General Coon, of the Ninth Illinois. He received an honorable discharge on the 31st of October, 1865, at Selma, Alabama, and thus after about four years' active military service he returned to his home. He was a most faithful soldier, loyally performing any duty that devolved upon him, and he now attends the reunions of the Third Michigan Cavalry, for he always regarded it as his regiment, as it was only circumstance that placed him with the Ninth Illinois. He is now a member of Harlow Briggs Post No. 53, G. A. R., of which he has served as commander, while at the present writing he is quartermaster.

Following his return to Allegan county Mr. Ellinger was for two years engaged in business with his brother Daniel in the conduct of a clothing store. In 1857 he had purchased an eighty-acre tract of wild land, and in September. 1867, he located thereon in order to start a farm.

During a furlough he had been married at Grand Rapids on the 8th of April, 1863, to Miss Matilda Schute, who was born in Hamburg, Germany, and became a resident of New York in 1849. Eight years later she went to Grand Rapids. Michigan, where her father was engaged in business as a cutter and tailor, making officers' clothing during the period of the war.

Mr. and Mrs. Elliiiger had become acquainted while slie was visiting in Allegan in i860, and were engaged when he enlisted for the war, so that on liis return to the north on a furlough the wedding was celebrated.

As before stated, they took up their abode tipon the farm in September, 1867. A small clearing had been made by Mr. EUinger prior to the war and he built thereon a house. Two years later he sold that farm and bought one hundred and sixty acres adjoining, with forty acres cleared and a log cabin. There he lived for thirty-three years, or until about three years ago, during which time he placed one hundred and twenty acres of land under cultivation. He also erected good buildings upon the place and a bank barn, making altogether a fine farm, which is pleasantly and conveniently situated a mile and a half north of Hopkins. About three years ago he bought back forty acres of his original eighty-acre tract, since which time he has also built a good residence and substantial outbuildings. He has since sold his old place of one hundred and sixty acres to his two sons, Louis and Benjamin, while he operates the home place of forty acres situated in Hopkins township.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Ellinger have been born ten children, of whom nine are yet living; Henry, a resident farmer of Hopkins township ; Emma, the wife of Charles Gertz, a contractor of Grand Rapids; Bertha, the wife of George Blakely, an undertaker of Grand Rapids; Fred, who is a farmer of Hopkins township but lives at home; Charlie, who is employed in a furniture factory in Grand Rapids ; Louis, who is still on the old homestead and who served as a member of Company B, Thirty-fifth Michigan Infantry, during the Cuban war: Julia, the wife of Fred Krug, a ranchman of Montana ; Benjamin, who is also living on the old homestead ; and George, a ranchman of Montana. They lost their eldest child in infancy.

Mr. Ellinger has always been a stalwart Republican and has been prominent in local affairs, serving for fifteen years as a school officer and in other positions of public trust. He belongs to the Methodist church and has lived a life in harmony with his professions, commanding the respect and confidence of his fellow men by reason of his business activity and probity. There is no more loyal citizen of America than this adopted son, who proved his fidelity by long and arduous service on the southern battlefields and who is continually manifesting his public spirit b}' his devotion to the welfare of the community in which he resides.

McKiNNON Brothers. - The firm of McKinnon Brothers, composed of John D. and Will J. McKinnon. have for ten years handled practically ail of the stock shipped from Hopkins, in which connection they are well known business men. controlling a trade that brings to them a good annual income. Both are natives of Barry county, Michigan, and came to Allegan county in 1878. The father, Roderick McKinnon, was proprietor of a store in Hopkins for several years. He had come from a farm in Barry county but was born on the Island of Tyree, Argyleshire, Scotland. January 22. 1832. He crossed the Atlantic to Canada in 1847 3"<^ i" ^^49 became a resident of New York. For a number of years he was a sailor on the ocean, rising to the rank of mate, and for three years he sailed on the Great Lakes. Removing to Michigan he followed farming for. a considerable period in Barry county and in 1885 became a resident of Tlopkins.

Reared under the parental roof and educated in the public schools, John D. and Will J. McKinnon joined forces in a business partnership, which for ten years has made them the leading stock dealers of this part of the county. For a decade they liave handled and shipped stock at Hopkins, buying and selling horses, cattle, sheep and hogs. They buy stock which they place upon their farm and when in fit condition make shipments. They ship from one to five carloads of hogs each week and often a carload of cattle. Their business has given farmers a regular market, so that at any time they can sell. During a year the firm pay out about seventy-five thousand dollars for stock. They make Hopkins their central point of shipment and in addition to their operations here they also own and conduct a farm of one hundred and eighty acres. Their attention, however, is principally given to the purchase and sale of stock. Their land is a part of the old Hoifmaster farm. It adjoins the corporation limits and a part of it has been platted, whereon each of the brothers have erected a home. Thej' are also agents for the International Harvester Company, which connection has been maintained for four years. Their business is now extensive and profitable and is of much benefit to the community as well as a source of annual income.

Both brothers have been married. John D. McKinnon wedded Floy G. HoiTmaster, who died three months later. William wedded Mary Hull, and they have four children - Kenneth, Ethel, Forrest and Keith. The brothers are Republicans in their political support and are well informed, intelligent men, who keep in touch with the spirit of modern progress and thought.

Amos B. Wait. - No history of Allegan county would be complete without mention of Amos B. Wait, who has been identified with its interests from an early period in its development. He is numbered among those who aided in clearing away the forest and he has experienced the hardships and privations of frontier life incident to the development of a home in a new country. Born in Portage county, Ohio, on the zd of October, 1834, he is a son of Jonathan and Abigail (Belden) Wait, both of whom were natives of Massachusetts and settled on the western reserve in Ohio at an early day. The son Amos remained under the parental roof until twentyone years of age, and in the spring of 1856 came to Michigan. The fall before Dr. E. H. Wait had visited Allegan county and purchased large tracts of land. Both came in the spring of 1856 and several other families from Ohio also made the journey to this county at that time. The Waits settled at Hopkinsburg, three miles east of Hopkins, and Dr, Wait and R. A. Baird built a sawmill there in order to cut the pine timber from their own land. Amos Wait worked in the mill through the summer and in the fall of that year returned to Ohio, but in the spring following again came to Allegan county and once more worked for his brother and his partner, Mr. Baird. The doctor also conducted a large store at Hopkinsburg and purchased great quantities of maple sugar, dealing extensively in that commodity. He finally returned to Ohio, however, and died there in 1871.

there to Miss Eliza Parker. He afterward operated his father's farm for one year and then came again to Allegan county, where he purchased eighty acres of wild land one mile south of the present site of Hilliard. He then went into the woods, cutting beach and maple, and he sold some timber, inchiding black cherry. The log house which he built, sixteen by twentyfour feet, is still standing and is one of the old landmarks of the community, a mifte witness of the many changes that have occurred in the intervening years. He paid fonr dollars per acre for his land, which was all covered with the forest growth, the value of which was little appreciated by the settlers at that time, who, anxious to get ri<I of the trees that prevented them from tilling the soil, burned much of the timber. In order to obtain ready money he worked out by the day. chopping and clearing, and he cleared his own land when he could get no work from others. Thus he placed sixty acres under cultivation and in the course of time the fields became very rich and productive, yielding large harvests. He built a good barn about the time that the Lake Shore Railroad was built through his farm and about six years ago he erected a new and attractive residence. His soil was rich and productive and in addition to its cidtivation in later years he conducted a dairy and was also a stockholder in the Hilliard creamery. He continued upon the farm until April. 1906, and after a residence there of fort\' -seven years he rented the place and took up his abode in the village of Hopkins, where he now has a nice home.

Mr. M'ait lost his first wife on the 14th of September. 1871, and in November, 1872, he married Mrs. Charlotte Eavs, nee Benedict, who at the time of their marriage was residing at Summit. She was born in Summit county, Ohio, and by her first marriage had one son, Myron Eavs. who was five years of age at the time of her second marriage, and he lived with Mr. and Mrs. Wait until his own marriage. He is now a resident of Grand Rapids. Michigan. Mr. Wait by his first marriage had three children : Etta, the wife of Burt Parmalee. of Hopkins township: Minnie, the wife of William Tanner, of Dorr township ; and Cora, the wife of Samuel Plumb, of Portage county, Ohio. By the present marriage there are two children: Grace, the wife of Charles Hoffmaster. and Katie, the wife of Harvey Hoffmaster. The two gentlemen are brothers, and both families reside in Kalamazoo.

Mr. Wait gives his political allegiance to the Republican part\' and is thoroughly in sympathy with its principles. For a half century he has resided in this county and has not only l)een a witness of its changes, but has been a participant in much of the work that has wrought its present development and progress. In }-ears passed he killed many deer in this section of the state and shot many other kinds of wild animais. He has known and met the experiences and hardships of the himber camp, performing the arduous task of clearing and developing a new farm and has carried on his work with a persistency of purpose that has in the course of years brought him a measure of success that now enables him to live retired.

The Baird f.\mily has long been widely and prominently known in Allegan county, the name being inseparably interwoven with the history of this part of the state. Three brothers, Robert A.. John A. and Philander O.

Eaird, all of whom were then married, came from Twinsburg, Summit county, Ohio, to Allegan cbim ty in 1856. They were sons of Robert Hunter Baird, a representative of an old family of Massachusetts, who removed from New England to Ohio in 1841. In the family in addition to the three brothers were two sisters, who lived in Allegan county, namely : Hannah, the wife of Dr. Wait, a physician and merchant at Hopkinsburg; and Olive, who married Newell Upson.

Robert A. Eaird, the eldest of the brothers, became a miller at Hopkinsburg, where his widow still resides. John A. and Philander O. Baird settled on adjoining farms, but John A. lived for two years in Hopkinsburg before taking up his abode on his fami. He then gave his attention to the cultivation of the soil through the summer months, while in the winter season he bought logs for his brother, who operated a sawmill. His farm lay two miles north of Hopkinsburg and he placed some sixty acres under cultivation. His first home was a log cabin, which he occupied until the present residence was erected by him about thirty years ago. His time and energies were devoted to general agricultural pursuits until within five years of his death, which occurred September 22, 1905, when he was in his seventy-eighth year.

Philander O. Baird worked at the mill for two years before coming to the farm. He also retained his residence upon his farm until he was called to his final rest April 12, 1903, in his seventieth year. On the 4th of February, 1862, just before going to Michigan, he was married to Miss Aurelia Tooker, a sister of P. W. Tooker, who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume. She survived until March 5, 1906, and passed away at the age of sixty-seven years. Mr. Eaird returned to Ohio for his bride and following the marriage ceremony brought her to his log cabin in the midst of the forest. This remained their home until it was replaced by the present residence that now stands on the farm, which was built in 1873. Philander O. Baird was a Republican in his political views and both he and his wife were members of the Congregational church at Hopkinsburg. Their family numbered a son and daughter, Kendall O. and Lottie, but the latter died in her seventeenth year.

Upon the old homestead farm belonging to his parents Kendall O. Baird was bom September 24, 1864. He was reared to habits of industry and economy and remained under the parental roof until twenty-one years of age. He has spent his entire life upon the farm save for four seasons, which were devoted to the manufacture of cheese. He worked with his father until five years prior to the latter's death, when he assumed the entire management of the business, owing to the fact that hts father had suffered a stroke of paralysis. He has carried on mixed farming, also raising cows and hogs. He usually keeps from ten to seventeen cows, selling the milk to the cheese factory. He uses the Guernsey stock and has some high grade animals. In all of his work he is progressive and accomplishes what he undertakes, carrying forward his business along lines of enterprise and activity that result in bringing him gratifying and well merited success.

On the 5th of January, 1895, Kendall O. Baird was married to Miss Lonnie Rumery, a daughter of J. L. and Hattie K. (Buck) Rrmiery. The Rumery family has also been identified with the county from pioneer days.

Salsbury B. Runiery, a pioneer of Monterey township, located there in 1843, while J. L. Rumery arrived in 1844. He married Hattie Buck,, of St. Lawrence county. New York. Mr. and Mrs. Rumery are still living, their home being near Ohio Corners, in Hopkins township, and Mrs. Rumery's mother, who bore the maiden name of Jane Emily Butler, is also with them at the age of eighty-two years. Mrs. Eaird was born in Monterey township, afterward spent five years with her parents in Allegan and then removed to Hopkins township, where she was living at the time of her marriage, when she was twenty-one years of age. Her father was born in Monterey township sixty-two years ago and was also married there.

Mr, Baird is a Republican but without aspiration for office. His entire time and attention has been devoted to his business affairs and he is a worthy representative of a pioneer family that from an early day has taken an active and helpful part in the work of progress and improvement.

Henev F. Buskirk, a member of the slate board of agriculture and a former representative of his district in the general assembly, is a distinguished resident of Allegan county and one who has wielded a wide and beneficial influence in public affairs. He is not a politician in the ordinary sense of the term. With him the public welfare is ever paramount to personal aggrandizement and the general good of greater interest than party progress. The duties which have been entrusted to him have been faithfully performed and he has made each task a close and earnest study in order to secure the best possible results. He has become widely known throughout Michigan as one whose labors have been of direct benefit to the state at large and at the same time he looks beyond the exigencies of the moment to the possibilities of the future. His home is in Wayland and in addition to his residence there he owns a good farm propert}' in Hopkins township, upon which he spends the summer months.

Mr. Buskirk was born on the old farm homestead in Hopkins township, November 26, 1856, his parents being William and Sophia (Sadler) Buskirk. The paternal grandfather. Abram Buskirk, was married in New York, his native state, to Miss Nancy Garrison and removed from Ovid, New York, to Dover, Ohio. In 1853 he became a resident of Michigan, where his sons, John. Abram, I'eter and William, all of whom were heads of families at that time, had previously settled, living in the same neighborhood. William Buskirk and his wife had arrived in Allegan county in 1854. John Buskirk remained but a short period, after which he returned to Ohio. Others, however, continued in Allegan county and cleared and developed farms. Of these brothers William and Peter are yet residents of the county, while Abram Buskirk, Jr., cleared and improved a farm upon which he spent his remaining days, dying in this county at the age of seventy-seven years. His widow still resides upon the old homestead. The younger members of the family who came with their father, Abram Buskirk, Sr.. were Allen, Isaac. Daniel, Jane and Eliphelet. Of these Allen, Daniel and Eliphelet married three sisters, Louisa, Ellen and Catherine Van Tassel, daughters of M. W. Van Tassel, a prominent pioneer lumberman of Wayland. Allen, who for many years followed farming, about 1873 went north to the lumber woods aiid died at Big Rapids. Daniel Buskirk, who lost his wife here about thirty-eight years ago, is now a carpenter. Eliphelet, the youngest son.

resided upon the old homestead until three years ago, when he sold the property, and is now engaged in farming in Wayland township. Jane, the only daughter, became the wife of Herman F. White, wlio <lied recently, and she is now living on the old homestead farm. The father of this family, Abram Buskirk, Sr., died in his eighty -seventh year, while his wife, Nancy, passed away when but sixty-two years of age.

William Buskirk, father of our subject, was married at Dover, Ohio, to Miss Sophia Sadler, on the 23d of July, 1847. They are both now in the eighty-first year of their age and have been married for fifty-nine years. On coming to Michigan in 1854 they bad one son, Thomas. William Buskirk secured a farm of one hundred and twenty acres near his father's place and carried on the work himself until about ten years ago. He has never served in office save in connection with the schools, but since the organization of the party has been a stalwart advocate of Republican principles. He has always been a great Bible student and a strict observer of the Sabbath. Wherever known he is valued and respected, and he and his wife are one of the most venerable and esteemed couples of Allegan county. In their family were four sons and two daughters: Thomas C, who is now engaged in the practice of medicine in Portland, Michigan; Alva L., a farmer of Wayland ; Henry F. ; Elizabeth, the wife of J. Crabb, a farmer of Hopkins; Clara, the wife of Almon N. Baker, in this vicinity; and John D., a practicing physician at Shelby, Michigan.

Henry F. Buskirk supplemented his preliminary education by study in the high school at Otsego and afterward engaged in teaching at Wayland. In 1875 he entered the Agricultural College, from which he graduated with the class of 1878. He devoted the winter seasons for seven years to the profession of teaching, and following the completion of his collegiate course he began farming on his own account. He was married January 28, 1881, to Miss Lillian E. Hoyt, a daughter of I. N. Hoyt, of Wayland. Mr. Buskirk then engaged in the lumber business in connection with his father-in-law at Wayland for eight years, interrupted, however, by an interval of three years spent upon the farm. His summer inonths were devoted to the care and cultivation of his land and his agricultural pursuits were crowned with a goodly measure of success. As the years passed by Mr. Buskirk added to his possessions until at one time he owned three hundred acres of land, a part of which he rented and part of which he operated. He has recently sold his farm of one hundred and sixty acres and in fact has disposed of all his farming property save about forty acres. He lives in the village of Wayland, spending only the summer months on the farm. He has erected there good buildings, has drained and tiled much of the land and is now devoting his attention to the growing of onions, sugar beets and cabbages, which are successfully raised and constitute a marketable commodity. Active and energetic in his business life and carefully controlling his interests, Mr. Buskirk has met with a measure of prosperity which numbers him among the successful residents of Allegan county. The home was blessed with two children, but they lost their only son in childhood. The daughter, Bessie, was graduated from the Agricultural College just twenty-five years after her father's graduation, and for three years was engaged in teaching in the city schools of Grand Rapids, where she won

Mr. Buskirk, while leading an active and useful life in connection with his business interests, has also found time and opportunity to perform much valuable public service. Early in life he filled various township offices and has occupied various positions in the village of Wayland. In 1897 he was elected to represent his district in the state legislature and served as a member of various important committees. He was also chairman of the Northern Asylum for the Insane at Traverse City. In 1899 he was made chairman of the committee of the Agricultural College and a member of the committee on fisheries and game. This committee was instrumental in securing an appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars for the erection of the woman's building to the Agricultural College. His services during the Pingree administration at the beginning of the adoption of the special tax legislation and an amendment to the constitution resulted in the creation of a tax commission. When he began his work in that direction the railroads paid less than one million dollars taxes but now pay four million dollars. His term in the general assembly having expired he then retired, not desiring to again become a candidate. He is a member of the state board of agriculture, having first been appointed by Governor Warner. This is a very important board, but no salary is attached. The board constitutes seven members, having charge of the expenditure of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars per annum. All experiment stations are under the supervision of the board. The board also has entire supervision of the Agricultural College, the erection of new buildings and other work connected therewith. The office of the board is located at the Agricultural College, the secretary residing there. His public spirit is manifest by his work in connection with an ofBce which pays no salary and which is of the utmost benefit to the state along lines of agricultural progress and development. Local advancement and national progress are both causes dear to his heart and in working toward ideals he uses practical methods which produce re,=ults quickly and that are of a most substantial character.

Pliny H. Tcxjker. - The farming interests of Hopkins township are well represented by Pliny H. Tooker, a wide-awake, alert and enterprising business man, who in the management of his property interests displays excellent executive ability. He was born in Twinsburg, Sunmiit county, Ohio, May 17. 1836, and was a young man of twenty-three years when, in 1859, he came to Michigan, settling in Ionia county, where he lived until 1862. During that period he worked at the mason's trade and also at plastering. In 1862. however, he left Michigan and went to Wheatland, Iowa, where he was employed for a brief period. He then, however, put aside business considerations and .personal interests in order to respond to the country's call for aid and enlisted on the 19th of August, 1863, in company with boys he had formerly known in Ohio. They were assigned to duty with Company L, of the First Iowa Cavalry. The regiment had been in the field for a year and Mr. Tooker's enlistment was for the unexpired term of the regiment. The authorities tried to hold him, however, for three years, but on the 21st of February, 1865, he secured his discharge, after two years and six months in the service. The regiment was in Missouri when he joined it and he was largely engaged in duty in that state and in Arkansas, participating in the battle at Prairie Grove, Arkansas, and in all of the military actions and engagements in that state. He went to Little Rock with Steele and was largely engaged in fighting bushwhackers. For a time he was quartermaster sergeant, also commissary and wagon master. He participated in many raids and never missed a roll-call, so that he was in constant service. His position was often a hazardous one, for frequently greater dangers are incurred in such warfare rather than in the regular pitched battles.

Returning to Iowa, Mr. Tooker was for one season employed at farm labor there by his brother, and in November, 1865, he returned to Ionia county, Michigan. Having established a home of his own he sought a companion and helpmate for life's journey and was married there to Miss Elizabeth Rice of that county. He afterward removed to Allegan county, where his sister, Mrs. Philander Baird, was living. He purchased his present farm, but it was then a tract of wild land. He had worked at the plasterer's trade for years, being employed all over Allegan county, but resolving to turn his attention to agricultural pursuits he established a little home in the midst of the forest, his cabin being only sixteen by twenty-four feet. Recently he has replaced this by a more commodious and modern residence. With characteristic energy he began the arduous task of clearing his land, and in 1871, at the time of the great forest fire, it was burned over. Much of the timber had then been cut and he had a fine sugar orchard, which also was a good source of income to him. His first team was a yoke of wild steers and he performed all the tasks of clearing and developing his farm in the primitive manner of the times when much manual labor was required because of tJie lack of farm implements that invention has later brought. In 1900, after building a fine bank barn, Mr. Tooker suffered a stroke of paralysis and lost the use of his left hand. The government allowed him a total disability pension, which was readily granted. Since that time Mr. Tooker has retired from active farm work and has since given to his son Ray the home place, while another son, Ernest W. Tooker, has a ten-acre tract of land and thirty acres still remains in possession of our subject. His son, however, utilizes his land and in return gives a home to his parents.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Tooker have been born four sons and one daughter: Ernest W.. who is both a plasterer and farmer; Harry L., in the village of Hopkins ; Frank L., of Allegan : Raymond, who is living on the old homestead; and Lena B., the wife of Leon Mason, a jeweler of Hopkins. Raymond served in the Spanish-American war in Cuba with the Thirty-third Michigan Infantry. He is now operating the old home place and is one of the enterprising farmers of this county. His wife was Minnie Horner, a daughter of Martin Horner, and they now have three daughters - Leia, Allie and Emma Belle.

Mr. Tooker belongs to Harlow Briggs Post No. 80. G. A. R.. and although he has never had opportimity to attend a regiment reunion he attended the National Encampment at Milwaukee. He thoroughly enjoys fishing and spends much of his time in that way, having practicallv retired from business life.

Samuel M. Eggleston.- - The history of Samuel M. Eggleston if written in detail would present a very complete and typical picture of pioneer life in this portion of Michigan, for he was identified with the work of development as Allegan county was cleared from the forest and converted from a timbered region into an agricultural district, rich with its possibilities for the raising of grain and fruit. He is now Uving retired in Hopkins, a life of labor being crowned with an age of ease. His birth occurred in Aurora, Portage county, Ohio, October 20, 1831, his parents being J. K. and Lucy (Buckley) Eggleston, who were married in Aurora. The father wa,s born in St. Lawrence cotinty, New York, in 1806, and when a child of two or three years went to Ohio. There were five brothers in the family, all of whom settled in Aurora, Ohio, one of these being General Eggleston. The house stood within twenty miles of Lake Erie and the father of our subject well remembered hearing all day long the guns that were fired in the naval battle when Perry won his great victory on that lake. He continued a resident of Aurora up to the time of his death, which occurred in his eighty-fourth year.

Samuel M. Eggleston was reared in his father's home, where he remained until twenty-four years of age, although in the meantime he spent two winters in the pine woods near Saginaw. Michigan. He was married at the age of twenty-four years to Miss Eliza M. Smith, who was born in Bainbridge, the township adjoining the one in which Mr. Eggleston Hved. The wedding ceremony was performed on Christmas day of 1855, and in 1905 they celebrated their golden wedding at their home in Hopkins with a company of fifty-four persons, including his brothers from Ohio and other relatives. After three years spent upon the old home farm of his wife in Bainbridge township, Portage county. Ohio, they removed to AJiegan county in October, 1858. Mr. Eggleston had traded his property for an eighty-acre tract of land in Hopkins township, on which he settled without having previously seen it. It had been owned by a relative. Here in the midst of the forest he built a little cabin, in which he lived for two years. He afterward erected and occupied a log house. Immediately he planted a crop of corn and he had enough to live upon, so that he could concentrate his energies upon clearing and developing his own land. The first year. 1859. however, they had frost every month, even up to the 4th of Jtdy, but he harvested some soft corn. The next year, however, a good crop was gathered, so that he made progress, and year by year added somewhat to his advancement and prosperity. After about ten years he was enabled to build a good frame house, which is still in a creditable state of preservation. He also added to his original purchase of forty acres of wild land. He got nothing from the timber, which was then regarded as of little value, and was burned in order to get rid of it that the work of developing the fields might be carried forward. Upon his farm was a fine sugar bush covering thirty-five acres, and one of the special branches of his business was the making of maple sugar. In a single season he has made fifty-four hundred pounds of maple sugar, which sold for from ten to eighteen and a half cents per pound. He has sold sugar to the value of five hundred dollars in a single season and even as late as three years ago he realized four hundred and fifty dollars from his sugar. He won a wide reputation for the excellence of his product and he has shipped quite extensively to parties at a distance. His sugar bush was a constant source of income to him all these years, while the fields also brought him good crops. He continued upon the old homestead for forty-six years, or imtil about two years ago and made it one of the best farms in the township, equipped with modern conveniences and accessories. He then retired to Hopkins, where he is now resting from further labor.

Mr. Eggleston has also figured prominently in local affairs and has filled the leading offices in this township, serving as township supervisor and in other positions. He voted for the first Republican presidential candidate, Fremont, in 1856. He has supported each candidate at the head of the party since that time, but at local elections, where no issue is involved and only the capability of the candidate should be considered, he casts an independent ballot, voting for the best men.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Eggleston were bom the following named : Lizzie is the wife of William Kintner, a resident of Colorado City, Colorado. Nellie is the wife of William Rinehart, of Dorr. Charles died October .31,' 1899, at the age of thirty-six years. He had married Minnie Thompson and left a daughter, Ruby. He occupied a second house upon the old homestead farm, which had been built for him by his father. Ava is the wife of Frank Tooker, of AHegan, and has two children, Vera and Rena. Mr. and Mrs. Eggleston are members of the Congregational church, and he was formerly a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and passed all of the chairs in the local lodge. His memory compasses the period of early pioneer life and experiences here as well as the epoch of later development and progress. In the early days, when much wild game existed, he shot and killed a deer, but said he would never kill another. He helped lay out and cut many of the roads in his part of the township and now sees the finest kind of highways there. His coming resulted in other families also taking up their abode in Aliegan county and altogether he has been a valued citizen here, doing much for the county and at the same time promoting his individual success by business methods which have neither sought nor required disguise.

Peter Knobloch. - In the face of opposition and difficulties that would utterly have discouraged a man of less resolute spirit and enterprise, Peter Knobloch, now one of the venerable citizens of Hopkins, has worked his way steadily upward, and though he started out in life empty-handed he is now in possession of a comfortable competence that enables him in the evening of his days to enjoy the comforts of life without recourse to further labor. He was born in the village of Mambochel, in the Rhine province of Germany, November 2, 1822. As a school boy he read letters from young men who had come to America and would write back to their friends and families in Germany. This awakened his interest in the new world and he began to read everything that he could find upon the subject. As his people were in limited financial circumstances he learned the shoemaker's trade, serving a three years' apprenticeship. All this time he was imbued with the desire to become a resident of the new world, and on the nth of June, 1846, he started for the United States. Taking passage on a vessel at Kreitznauer, sixteen miles above B'mgo and at Rotterdam, he traveled by ocean steamer for London and from the latter place sailed for the United

States on a sailing ship, Paola, wliich was eight weeks in makint;; the voyage from London to Baltimore. Maryland. He then went on to Pittsburg with the company with which he hart made the voyage. He had borrowed his passage money from one of the men of the party and he had to borrow four dollars of the same man in order to reach Pittsburg, the journey being made by way of the canal to the vicinity of Allegheny City, where they found that the canal was broken. On reaching the bridge at Pittsburg Mr. Knobloch had but one cent and he had to borrow another cent in order to pay his toll across the bridge. Three days later he borrowed more to pay the hotel bill, but his lack of funds rendered immediate employment a necessity and he resolutely set to work to secure employment. In a few days he had arranged to work at the shoemaker's bench at four dollars per month, and he was thus employed for three months, receiving twelve dollars in recompense for his services. He afterward earned seven dollars per month in this way and later he worked at piecework, receiving about a dollar per day. In six months he had paid off all of his indebtedness and his old friends in Germany, surprised at the rapidity with which he had gained the money, thought that some day he would certainly be the richest man in America. His mother, who was a good Christian woman, had made him promise that he would not work on Sunday. She strongly opposed his emigration to the new world and in fact had rolled on the ground in agony when he had made his departure, but when she saw how well he was doing she urged his younger brother, Adam, to come to the new world, and Peter Knobloch sent the money for Adam to pay his passage after being in Pittsburg for two years. About 184S he established a shoe shop at New Castle, Pennsylvania, and became an expert at sewed work. Later he sent for a vounger brother. Michel, who died at New Castle, Pennsylvania. Adam lives now in Monterey township. Allegan county.

It was about this time that Mr. Knobloch. on the nth of August. 1848, was married at New Castle to Miss Hannah Becker, also a native of Germany, who had been in America, however, for about ten years. As Mr. Knobloch had just sent money home to pay the passage of his brother Michel to the new world he had to borrow money to pay the marriage fee and also went in debt seventy-five dollars for furnishing the new home. He then sold his shop to pay off the indebtedness and worked for another shoemaker who was an expert bootmaker. His work was so far ahead of anything that Mr. Knobloch had seen that he asked to be instructed in the work, and in six weeks' time his own labor could excel that of his employer and he was known as the best bootmaker in Pennsylvania, making all of the wedding boots of the town. In this way he made about twelve dollars per week, which was a good salary at that day. He had continued to work for others for about ten years, or until 1856, and in the meantime had built a home in New Castle.

His brother Adam, however, had come to Michigan in 1854 and had purchased land in Monterey township. As the work at the bench did not agree with Mr. Knobloch's health he determined also to come to Michigan, and in i8.q6 he made his way to Allegan county. His brother Adam displayed to him with just pride his eighty acres of heavy wooded land, the soil, however, being rich and productive. Mr. Knobloch at once secured a claim for himself, paying three dollars and a half per acre. The money which he had saved in the east was sufficient to enable him to pay for the daim and give him a nice start with a team of oxen and other needed equipments for the farm. In order to clear the land, however, he burned up the timber, which would now be very valuable. He placed all his farm under cultivation and erected thereon a large bam and a commodious and substantial residence. There he lived for twenty years, when he sold the property to his son-in-law, after which he purchased a fann of one hundred acres for six thousand dollars, paying two thousand dollars cash, while in four years he discharged the entire indebtedness, having made most of the sum from his farm, which lay one mile south of Monterey Center, and he remained upon that place for many years. In the meantime he had purchased one hundred and sixty acres in Hopkins township, which he sold to his son Charles. Later he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, after which he was fifteen thousand dollars in debt and had to. pay from eight to ten per cent interest on his money. This place adjoined the old homestead and he took charge of and operated the two farms. No one thought he could pay for the property, but in fifteen years, after much earnest and unremitting foil, the place was free from all indebtedness. He had made all of the payments when due and he has since sold both of these farms for seventeen thousand dollars, since which time he has given the greater part of his money to his children.

In 1897 Rlr. Knobloch was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died on the rSth of April of that year, after having been an invalid for eight years, during which time her every wish and want was attended to by her faithful daughter, Hannah. In the family were eight children: Charles, who is a farmer of Hopkins township; Amelia, the wife of William Kimmer. who owns the first farm which was the property of her father ; Catherine, the wife of Alexander Millheim, of Allegan township; Lizzie, who is the widow of Henry McAlpine, and a resident of Allegan; Julius, a farmer of Monterey township; Willie, a farmer of Trowbridge; Emma, the wife of William Garst, of Logansport; and Hannah, who is still acting as her father's housekeeper. Beside their own eight children, Mr. and Mrs. Knobloch gave homes to four others, Hannah, Joseph, Minnie and John Eisenbarth, having all been reared by these good people.

Mr. Knobloch has led a most active life, and even in 1905 made a full hand on the farm. He is still hale and hearty, being one of the best preserved men of his age in this part of the county. In his younger life he was athletic and was never thrown, and he is still wiry and strong. He possesses also a firm spirh, and wdien he reahzed that the use of intoxicants was proving detrimental he ceased their use. He also did the same with tobacco. He has been strictly honest and honorable in all life's relations and is a man who has stood firmly by his principles. He has no enemies and he possesses a spirit that would prompt him, if he had one, to hunt him up and make all square with him. He woidd rather lose than to sue another, and lie has always been just to the point of mercy in all his business dealings. His wife was ever ready to lend him her encouragement and aid and made liim a most excellent helpmeet. In his political views he has always been a stalwart Democrat, never but once casting a Republican vote. He was reared in the faith of the Lutheran church and became one of the original members at Hopkins, being now the oldest of the charter members remaining.

GoTxrRiED Knutii is on the third farm that was settled in Hopkins township, it having become tiie property of Harvey Baker in 1836. It is pleasantly located about a mile and a half east of Hopkins station and comprises eighty acres of land, which has been placed under a high state of cultivation. Mr. Knuth was born in West Prussia, Germany, on the nth of May, 1856, and came to America in 1871 when a youth of fifteen years. He was the first of the family to cross the Atlantic, having become imbued with a desire to see the world, and, in company with the family of Samuel Brown, he crossed the briny deep and came to Allegan county. He had expected to go to South Carolina, but at New York he changed his mind and he has since made Allegan county his home. He had no capital at the time of his arrival, and the necessity for immediate employment prompted him to seek work as a farm hand. He was not long in obtaining a situation and for fifteen years continued to work by the month at farm labor, although at intervals he was employed on the railroad. Ambitious, however, to have a farm of his own, he started in with forty acres of wild land in 1876. Immediately he began to cultivate and improve the place and had put tlie entire area under cultivation when he accepted it for his present farm in 1899. This was originally occupied by Harvey Baker, and is in what is known as the Baker settlement, several members of the family having taken up their abode in this locality. The original owner died upon the farm and it then passed into possession of his son Eugene, who is also now deceased. The place comprises eighty acres of land, which is rich and productive and in the midst of which stands a good residence, which was erected in 1902 at a cost of about one thousand eight hundred dollars. In the summer of 1899 he built a barn and his time and energies are given to general farming, which he successfully follows. He also keeps from ten to twelve cows upon his place, and in addition to the homestead he has a forty-acre tract of land in the same locality which he is also operating.

Rlr. Knuth has never returned to Germany since first crossing the Atlantic. Three years after his arrival his parents, Michael and Mary Knuth, came and spent their remaining days in Hopkins township. Three brothers, August, William and Edward Knuth, also emigrated to the new world and are still residents of Hopkins township. Thus Mr. Knuth of this review became surrounded by his relatives, and when thirty years of age he established a home of his own, being married at Hopkins to Miss Mary Schafer, a daughter of Henry Schafer of that township. She was born in Canada, and was six years of age on coming to Michigan. This union has been blessed with three children, who are yet living. Ezra, Milton and Clara, all at home, and they also lost three in childhood. The parents are members of the Lutheran church, and Mr. Knuth is a Republican, active in the local ranks of his party. A long residence in this county has ma.de him widely known, while a life of activity and energy has brought to him a gratifying measure of success, making him one of the substantial fanners of the community in which he resides.

Sherman I. Smith, carrying on general agricultural pursuits and stock-raising in Hopkins township with a splendidly improved property, indicative of his spirit of modern progress and enterprise, was bom in Bain- Ijridge, Geauga county, Ohio, October 18, 1837, his parents being Thomas and Emeline (Egglcston) Smith, both of whom were natives of Massachusetts. They were married, however, in Ohio, and the father died in that state February 22, 1855. In Octoljer, 1859, the family came to Allegan county, one son, Martin Smith, having located here two or three years before. The mother was accompanied by eight of her children, nearly all of whom were then grown, while some of them were married.

Sherman I. Smith had been married on the Sth of April, 1859, to Miss Elizabeth Bissell, a young lady of twenty years, having been born in Mantua, Portage county, Ohio, February 28, 1839, her parents being Jonathan B. and Laura (Hartshorn) Bissell. The father came to Allegan in i860 from Indiana. Mrs. Bissell died in Ohio in 1841. Mr. and Mrs. Smith located on a farm adjoining his brother Martin's, and the mother also made her home on the same section. One son, Albert Bainbridge Smith, remained with the mother until her death five years later. He then removed to Fairfield, Nebraska, where he became extensively engaged in the manufacture of sorghum molasses, carrying on a profitable business for many years, or until 1903. Norman W. Smith, another brother, settled on another farm adjoining his brother Martin's place, improved it and made his home thereon for some years, but eventually removed to Decatur county, Iowa, where he still resides. He is a music teacher of considerable note, having taught at length in Allegan county and also in Ohio. Charles F. Smith, another brother, began the development of a farm that is now included within the boundaries oi the farm owned by Sherman L Smith. He went into the army as a member of Company L. Fourth Michigan Cavalry, in August, 1862, when twenty years of age, and died at Nashville, on the ist of February, 1863, his remains being interred in the National cemetery at Nashville. The daughters of the family were : Fidelia, who came here as a widow and married Leander Brewer, after which they removed to Nebraska, where she died upon their home farm; Julia L. became the wife of Oren Judd, who was a schoolmate of James A. Garfield, their parents being neighbors. They settled on a farm in this state. In a few years, however, they removed to Pennsylvania and afterward to Nebraska, and she is now living at Council Bluffs, Iowa. She taught music in Hiram college, Ohio, when ex-President James A. Garfield was president of the college. Eliza married Samuel M. Eggleston, and they are now living retired at Hopkins. Nancy E. Smith was married in Allegan county to John E. Hopper, a tinner, and after a few years they removed to Nebraska, where they are now living. Mr. Hopper served as a member of the Sixth Michigan Regiment in the Civil war.

Sherman I. Smith had come to Allegan county in 1857, and secured his land, for which he paid five dollars per acre. He had made a little clearing by chopping down trees in the forest, but at that time remained upon the farm for a short period. Following his return in 1859 he built a small board house and resolutely undertook the task of clearing the land, raising a small crop the first year. He engaged in chopping for others and would exchange work in order to get the use of a team. After two or three years he was enabled to purchase a yoke of steers and afterward carried on the farm work more readily. His entire place was covered with a dense growth of natural forest trees and he sold some of his timber, disposing of fine white wood for four dollars per thousand delivered at the mill. His farm was largely covered with splendid specimens of beech and maple trees, much of which were burned. As the land was cleared he placed it under the plow and in course of time gathered good harvests. In 1886 he built a residence, after living in the pioneer home for nearly thirty years. He has improved one of the best farms in the county. There is a flowing well near the house and everything about the place is kept in an excellent state of improvement and cultivation. In 1892 he built a fine bank barn thirty-six by forty-six feet and he has every facility for promoting the farm work. He has for some years kept from eight to ten cows and he breeds Chester White hogs". Sixty acres of his land is under cultivation, whiie the remainder is devoted to pasture. There are numerous springs upon his place in addition to the well, with its never failing source of water, and the farm altogether is well equipped for the use to which it is put, being suitable for the cultivation of cereals or for the raising of stock. His attention has been confined to the farm work in its various departments and a gratifying measure of success has crowned his efforts.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Smith have been born two sons, who are yet living, and they also lost their eldest child in infancy. Arthur T., now a mailcarrier in Kalamazoo and first tenor in the Simpson Methodist Episcopal church, wedded Mary Washburn, and they have a daughter and two sons, Belle, Jesse, also a singer, and Elbert. The daughter is the wife of Irving Conrad. She is also a musician and singer, and they have one child, Lucile, so that our subject is a great-grandfather. The younger son, Herman D., living upon the home farm, is a tenor singer of more than ordinary note. He married Miss Maud Bates, and they have three sons, Muriel, barrel and Leonard.

Mr, Smith is a Republican, having supported the party since casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, and his last ballot having been cast for Theodore Roosevelt. He has been township treasurer for two years and has also been commissioner, but he has preferred to concentrate his energies upon his business affairs, which have been carefully directed and have brought him a goodly measure of success. A long residence in the county has made him widely known, and the salient traits of his character have been such as to gain for him the favorable regard of all with whom business or social relations have brought him in contact.

Hkman F. Wnrn-:. - To know Heman F. White was to respect and honor him. for, wdiile he never desired nor sought fame nor notoriety, he exemplified in his life those sterling traits of character which in every land and clime command esteem and confidence. He was one of the early settlers of Allegan county and took an active part in the work which led to its material development and progress. The year 1854 witnessed their arrival, and they were accompanied by Josiah and James Pamialee, who were from the same neighborhood in Sumntit county, Ohio. They purchased four eightyacre tracts of land in one body, thinking they would thus be company for each other in what was then a wild region. Mr. White was the last survivor of the four. After purchasing their land the other three returned to Ohio, but following their marriage again came to this county. Heman F. White was married, however, in this county, winning as his bride Miss Jane Buskirk, whom he wedded on the 15th of January, 1855. She was a daughter of Abram and Nancy (Garrison) Buskirk, and at the time of her marriage was a young lady of sixteen years. Mr. White had made some improvements thereon, having a home of his own, having chopped the timber from a few acres of land and erected on the clearing a log shanty with shake roof. The place contained but one room and was lighted by two windows. In true pioneer style the young couple began their domestic life. Their nearest railroad station was Kalamazoo, and not even a wagon road ran past their farm. In collecting their outfit they bought a washtub, piled into it their scanty supply of furniture for the table, then, each taking a handle, walked homeward a number of miles to their humble abode. They possessed, however, stout hearts and willing hands and bravely met and overcame the difficulties and hardships of pioneer life. Venison was not an unfrequent dish upon the family Iward, for deer still abounded in the district at that early day. Mr. White led a life of activity, and, as years passed, two sons and two daughters were added to the household : Frank, who is now living with his mother on the old farm ; Addie, tiie wife of Irwin Wait, who is living on the Bradley farm ; Martha, who became the wife of A. Baker and died at the age of nineteen years ; and Darwin, a photographer at Ann Arbor, Michigan. Mr. White took a most active and helpful interest in all that pertained to general progress and improvement. He was a member of the First Congregational church at Hopkinsburg and was always most faithful to its teachings, contributing generously of his means to its support. His life exemplified the truth of the saying that "So long as a man loves he serves." His life was a life of service for others, for his family, his friends and his fellow citizens. He always lived on the best terms with everybody and he preached and practiced the gospel of love. He lived to aid others and he opened roads and otherwise improved the county. He cut the first tree upon the road which passed his own farm and he did much toward saving farms to the owners in the case of tax sales. He would often purchase tax titles for his neighbors and he kept informed concerning all such cases and thus saved many a farm for the owner. He likewise did much toward proving the value of this district as an agricultural region and was noted for his grafting, principally in the budding of peach trees. While working in this way he only charged for a day's service, and not for the skill and knowledge which enabled him to perform the task. For nine successive years he was elected township treasurer and for three consecutive years filled the office of supervisor, receiving at one election every vote cast. His early political allegiance was given to the Republican party, but in later life he voted the Prohibition ticket and was a great temperance man, advocating the cause both by precept and example. It is said that he had not an enemy in the world. He lived a life of usefulness, activity and honor, and left to his family a name which in the community where he was known was a synonym for integrity and genuine personal worth.

William S. Kenfield, whose well improved farm property is the visible evidence of his life of thrift and industry, was born in Relchertown, Hampshire county, Massachusetts, March 28. 18.31, and when but three years of age was taken to Medina county, Ohio, by his parents, Erastus and Clarissa (Piper) Kenfield. The father was born in New England in 1801. and was a son of Erastus Kenfield, Sr., a soldier of the Revolutionary war. The mother's birth occurred in Connecticut, and she was a daughter of Samuel Piper, also one of the heroes of the Revolution, who was shot in the fore- head, but the skull was afterward trepanned. Reared in Ohio after the usual manner of fami Jads of that locality and period, William S. Kenfield retained his residence there until 1854, when, at the age of twenty-three years, he sought a home in Allegan county, Michigan. He had, however, previously spent one year in Massachusetts, but he heard of the big wages that were paid for labor in the lumber camps and came to Michigan, after which he spent a year near Lamont, on the Grand river. He had a friend, William Dunliam, a former schoolmate, who was working in Allegan county at Wayland, and, coming to see him, William S. Kenfield secured work in this locality, being for three years employed by Nelson Chambers, at seventeen dollars per month. Mr. Chambers was the proprietor of a hotel and Mr. Kenfield was assigned to the duty of attending the bar and stables, and also in other work around the hotel or in hauling goods. While thus employed he formed the acquaintance of Miss Sarah Round, who did dining room work in the same hotel for a year, and on the 3d of July, 1858, the friendship which they formed was consummated in marriage, the ceremony being performed by the Rev. James Selkrig, an Episcopal minister, of Wayland.

The same fall the young couple located on the present home farm, Mr. Kenfield securing eighty acres, for which he paid a dollar and a quarter per acre. It was covered with heavy maple, and he burned up the finest of the timber. The settlers at that date little realized what the val"e of the forests would be in a few years, and cut down the trees in order to clear and cultivate the fields. Mr. Kenfield built a good house for that time, having to cut away tlie timber in order to clear a place sufficient for its erection. He also cut a road through, one mile in length, to his farm. Two other farmers arrived in the nighborhood in the same fall - -Marion Mason, now of Hillsdale county, and Wilbur S. Marsh, and the one road served as a highway for all. Since locating upon this place Mr. Kenfield has continuously made it his home. He engaged in cutting timber in early days in order to secure money necessary for the support of his family and for carrying on the farm work, and in the winter season he was eJiiployed in the lumber camp. Many evidences of frontier life were to be seen at that time. It was not an unusual thing to see a deer in the farmyard and there were many wolves and deer and bears in the woods. With the rapid settlement of the county, however, great changes were brought about, and Mr. Kenfield, keeping in touch with modem progress and development, placed his lancl under cultivation and is today the owner of a valuable and, well improved farm. He also has a dairy with ten or eleven cows. He built his present residence in 1880, but his barn is one of the old landmarks of the countv, having stood for forty years. Mr. Kenfield has indeed found a worthy helpmate and companion in )"'is wife. She was the fifth in order of birth in a family of nine children, and her parents were in limited circumstances, so that she cared for herself from the age o£ eleven years. She. however, attended school in the winter months until sixteen years of age, and for one year she was employed in the hotel at Wayland, where, as stated, she fonned the acquaintance of Mr. Kenfield. They have but one child, Carrie A., now the wife of Martin G. Gaylor, who operates the home farm. Mr. Kenfield is a supporter of Republican principles, while Mrs. Kenfield is equally stanch in her faith in Democratic principles. For fifteen years he has been a member of the Odd Fellows' society. He greatly enjoys fishing, spending many pleasant hours in that way. For more than a half century he has Uved in Allegan county, and is therefore classed with its pioneer residents, while his activity and energy in business and his devotion to the public good have won for him a place among the representative men of the county - men who have done much for the work of upbuilding that has led to placing Allegan county in the front rank among the leading counties of this great commonwealth.

Other members of the Kenfield family also came to Michigan. Seven years after the arrival of W. S. Kenfield his brother, Lucius Kenfieid, in 1865 came to Allegan county. He was born at Hinckley. Medina county, Ohio, April 25, 1845, and was therefore a young man of about twenty years when he removed to this state. He had just left the army, in which he liad served as a loyal defender of the Union, who located on eighty acres of land near the home of his brother William, there spending his remaining days. He was married April 29, 1874, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to Miss Melissa Gregg, of that place, who was born July 17, 1849, near Comstock, Kalamazoo county, her parents being Olive and Mary (Darling) Gregg, both of whom were natives of New York. Mr. Kenfield visited in Kalamazoo county, and it was at that time that he met the lady whom he afterward made his wife. He had served in the Second Ohio Cavalry from February. 1865, and was discharged at Benton Barracks, Missouri. Immediately afterward he came direct to the home of his brother William and secured eight}- acres, which became his homestead. Later, however, he sold ten acres and he had secured a similar tract previous to his marriage. For one season after their marriage both Mr. and Mrs. Kenfield worked for one man in Kalamazoi> county, but that winter he got out logs to saw for a smalt frame house, and when it was built he and his wife took up their abode there, making it their home until about nine years ago. when a pleasant country residence was erected. Lucius Kenfiekl placed about forty acres of his land under cultivation and for several years engaged in sheep-raising, which was his principal source of income at that time. He then made his living off the farm through the cultivation of crops. In 1871 a big fire burned much of his timber, and also did considerable detriment to the soil. Since his death, however, the family have sold considerable timber. He passed away November i, 1903, at the age of sixty-two years, leaving a widow and two daughters. Clara and Maggie. The latter has charge of the home farm, while the former is now the wife of George Allen, of Hopkins township, and has four children, Charles, Luella. Rose and Nellie. /Xnother brother. Josiah Kenfield, who came two years after bis brother Lucius, was married here to Mi.ss Sarah Robbins. and afterward returned to Medina county. Ohio, where he cared for his parents until their death. About thirteen vears ago he returned to Allegan county and is now living in Hopkins township. He has one daughter, Lottie, now the wife of Leonard Truax. The name of Kenfield has long been synonymous with grood citizenship and with progressive agriculture in this county and the family well deserves mention in this volume.

Charles Knobloch is the owner of an excellent farm of one hundred and eighty-three acres on .section 31, Hopkins township, and pleasantly and conveniently located only about a mile and a half south of the village of Hopkins. It is devoted to the raising of grain and fniit and to dairv fanning, and the owner is a man of excellent business abilitv and executive force. He was bom in Newcastle, Pennsylvania, August i6th, 1851, and remained at home until twenty-five years of age, acquiring in the meantime a good English education and receiving from his parents training that resulted in forming habits of industry and integrity. He spent one year in Newcastle, Pennsylvania, in a meat market when about twenty-one years of age, and then returned to the old homestead farm. At the age of twenty-five years he married Louisa M. Tiefenthal, a daughter of William F. Tiefenthal, of Allegan township. Her father is still living among his children at the age of seventyeight years. Mrs. Knobloch was born in Ohio, and in her girlhood days came to Allegan county. Following his marriage Mr. Knobloch operated the Eisenbarth place in Hopkins, which he purchased after a year or two. There he lived for four years, clearing much of the land iind doing away with the swamp holes. He then bought the Chamberlain farm in Montere\' township, comprising one hundred and sixty acres of good land, which he devoted to the raising of grain. On selling that property to his father he made investment in his present farm, comprising one hundred and eightythree acres on section 31, Hopkins township. This is a splendidly improved property, and he is meeting with success in raising grain and fruit and also in his dairy business. He keeps from eighteen to twenty cows, selling milk to the creamery. He has seven acres in fruit - apples, peaches, pears, plums and cherries, and his fields are devoted to the cultivation of hay and corn. He came to this farm in 1886. since which time he has placed half of it under cultivation. It is rolling land and low ground, much of the low ground being black sand and drained by the large Anderson drain which follows the fence lines. In addition to this property he owns sixty acres elsewhere, so that his landed possessions now aggregate two hundred and forty-three acres. His home place was formerly known as the old Lewis Herlon homestead, having been settled and improved by Mr. Herlon about 1840. He and his brother, Philip Herlon, were among the early settlers and own an entire section of land. In later years Lewis Herlon went to Kansas, where he passed away, but his remains were laid to rest in Hopkins cemetery. Upon the farm are now found all modern improvements, including a barn ninety-six feet long and forty feet wide. The residence stands on a high eminence, commanding a splendid view of the surrounding country, and the farm is most attractive in its appearance, being well kept in every particular.

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Knobloch has been blessed with eight children : Laura, wife of George Morris, of .Mlegan : Carl, who married Minnie Brown, of Allegan, and owns a farm of sixty acres adjoining his father's property ; Daniel, who is residing on a farm in Hopkins township ; Susan, the wife of Magnus Palberg. in Hopkins: Leon. Otto, Martin and George, all at home. They also lost five children.

Mr. Knobloch is a Democrat, but without aspiration for office. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity, to the Knights of the Maccabees and the National Protective Legion. He possesses superior musical talent and skill and for nearly thirty years has been a band leader in Hopkins and Monterey. His grandfather and uncles were also musicians and he inherited the love of the art. As a young man he took up the comet and became a member of the band at Monterey and was instrumental in keeping up the organization for several years. At length the band lapsed for five years, and was then reorganized and is still in existence. For five years at the band tournaments held in Holland, Michigan, they carried ofE the first prize, Mr. Knobloch has also taken tiie band to several different points in the state, where it won first honors, and to at least two places in Indiana, gaining the first prize at Rome City, Indiana. The Hopkins band has never missed a prize where it has entered the contest. Mr. Knobloch also organized and instructed the Salem band, and in 1906 acted as its leader in the contest at Holland, where they carried off the second honors. He has been the choir leader in the German Lutheran church at Hopkins for fifteen years. His children are all musicians, his son Carl being a fine performer on the slide trombone, and it would be possible for him to organize an orchestra among the members of his own household, Mr, Knobloch's love for music and his thorough understanding of the art has made him a most valued factor in musical circles in this part of the state and has led him to contribute in large measure to general pleasure on many public occasions.

John W. Linsley. - Hopkins township, Allegan county, Michigan, inchides among its representative farmers and respected citizens John W. Linsley. He was born in Parkman, Ohio, on the 26th of August, 1843, and for many generations the family were well known and highly respected citizens in that section of the Buckeye state. The paternal grandfather of our subject, James Linsley, was a native of Branford, Connecticut. He married Lucy Parkman. and in 1836 they removed to Parkman township, Geauga county, Ohio, that township having been named in honor of a brother of Lucy Parkman, and one of the representatives of that family wa.s the illustrious Daniel Webster. James Linsley died in 1S45,

John P. Linsley, his son and the father of John W, Linsley, was born in Oneida county. New York, on the loth of February, 1819. On the i8th of December, 1840. he was united in marriage to Ann Eliza Button, whose parents, Joel and Lydia Button, took up their abode in Ohio in 1819, establishing the family home at Hiram. In 1853 John P. Linsley came with his family to Michigan, and here he lived during the remainder of his life, his time and energies having been devoted to agricultural pursuits, in which he attained success. In 1889, while crossing a railroad track in company with his niece, they were struck by a train, the team being killed, hut they escaped serious injury, and Mr. Linsley survived until the 2d of June, 1902, when his life's labors were ended in death.

John W. Linsley, one of the five children born to John P. and Ann Eliza (Button') Linsley, was born in Parkman. Ohio, on the 26th of August. 1843. He, too, has followed agricultural pursuits as a life occupation, but when the Civil war was inaugurated he put aside all personal considerations and offered his services to- the Union cause, enlisting in July, 1862, as a member of Company L, Fourth Michigan Cavalry, in which he served for three years. He took part in a number of the important battles and skirmishes of the war, and on one occasion he was wounded in the leg. and for three months thereafter, was confined in the hospital at Kingston. Georgia. His regiment assisted in the capture of Jefferson Davis. His army record is one of which he may he justly proud, for it is the record of a brave soldier, faithful to the least as well as the greatest of his duties, prompt, reliable and self-sacrificing. When peace had been restored he quietly took up the ordinarv duties of life, and he is now the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of excellent land in Hopkins township, Alleg'an county, which he has transformed from a densely wooded tract to its present high state of cultivation. The Springdale Cheese Factory is located on a part of this land, and the homesteiid is num bered among the valuable farms of the township. He usually keeps about twelve cows upon the place, and the buildings are a!! neat and substantial. Mr. Linsiey gives his political support to the Republican party, and has served as highway commissioner. He is a member of the Grange, and also of the G. A. R. Post No. 80. in which he maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades.

On the 6th of September, 1867, Mr. Linsiey was united in marriage to Lydia Chamberlain, who was born in New York January 18, 1849. a daughter of Peleg Chamberlain, who took up his abode in Hopkins township, Allegan county, Michigan, in 1855, but he is now deceased. Seven children have been bom of this union, namely: Herman W.. who now owns the old Linsiey homestead : Emma E. : Lucy P., the wife of Jake Rinehart, of Walkerton, Indiana : James H., who is now preparing for the dental profession ; Burdette E., foreman of the saw mills at Virginia, Minnesota; Alfred, who carries on the work of the farm, and he married Ida Sutton : and Bertha I., the wife of William Reynolds, a fanner in Hopkins township. On the 4th of July. 1876. Mr. Linsiey sustained a terrible accident by the unexpected exploding of a cannon which he was loading at Ohio Corners, one mile from his home, resulting in the loss of both arms, one having been taken off at the elbow and the other at the shoulder, also losing the sight of one eye an<l the hearing of one ear. He' has borne this great affliction with great fortitude and bravery, and uncomplainingly and to the best of his ability is discharging the many duties which devolve upon him in his business life.

Willtam: J.-vckson, after long years of active and successful connection with agricultural interests in Allegan county, is now living retired in Hopkins. He imoroved a valuable farm and for many years was connected with threshing, while as a breeder and raiser of fine stock he became widely known. Born in Hovingham. Yorkshire. Eneland, on the 15th of June, 1830, he is a son of William and Elizabeth (Hugel") Jackson, and the second in a family of three children. His elder brother, John Jackson, is now living in Laporte, Indiana, but for a long period was a farmer of Allegan county. He was the first of the family to come to America and settled in New York state, where he lived for a year. In 1858 lie became a resident of Michigan, locating west of Allegan, where he was residing when the other members of the family came to this countv in the spring of 1859. He had taken np a half section of land west of Alleean and for many years he was identified with agricultural nursuits in this oart of the county. Eventually he took up his abode in the village of Allegan, where he lived until about ten or twelve years ago, his home being now in Laporte. Indiana.

William Jackson lost his mother when he was eight years of asre. In the spring of 1851, with his father and his sister, he came to the United States, spending seven years in New York. In the spring of 1859 the family came to Allegan countv, whither thev had been preceded by John Tackson, the brother of our subiect. William Jackson here purchased fortv acres of land from George Lay on section 26. Monterey township. The father lived with his three children and died in Leighton township at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Duke Siifiield, wlien seventy-three years of age.

William Jackson was married in Ithaca, New York, on the i5tli of December, 1855, to Miss Martha H. Holdsworth, also a native of Yorkshire, and a sister of his brother John's wife. As stated, they came to Michigan in the spring of 1859, and he began life in Allegan county with forty acres of wild land. A little clearing had been made upon the place, but he practically performed all the work of developing and improving this farm. He first built a little board shanty, but later the comforts and conveniences of a modern home were secured and as time passed he also added to his farm until he had eighty acres. Eventually he improved his property with a large residence, good barns and other substantial outbuildings and transferred the once wild land into a rich and productive tract. When his residence was destroyed by fire he at once rebuilt a new one upon the old site and also built a home for his son, who is operating the farm. The father and son owned altogether two hundred and five acres of rich and productive land. Year after year William Jackson carried on the work of tilling the soil and raising crops, residing upon his farm until 1898, when he rented his land to his son, Charles S., and retired to the village of Hopkins, where he now makes his home. For many years he operated a threshing machine. In 1876 he purchased the first steam thresher owned in Allegan county and he operated the thresher until he had threshed for twenty seasons, covering several townships. In this connection he became widely known. In the winters he here used his teams in the lumber woods and thus he lived a life of unremitting activity and enterprise, each season of the year bringing his duties and labors, which were promptly executed and faithfully performed by him. For twenty years he was a breeder of Shorthorn cattle and exhibited at fairs. He won forty dollars in premiums one year at Allegan and he kept registered stock, being the first man in Monterey to breed high grade stock. He also bred Shropshire sheep, breeding over thirty head of registered sheep. His business interests were thus varied and important. As a stock-raiser he contributed to general prosperity through advancing the grade of stock raised, whereby prices are. always promoted.

In 1890 Mr, Jackson was called upon to mourn the loss of his first wife, who died on the r3th of March, after they had traveled life's journey together for nearly thirty-five years. On the 12th of November, 1891, he married Mrs. Lucy M. Beebe, whose maiden name was Farnsworth. She was born in Defiance county, Ohio, and came to Michigan, where lived her two sisters, Mrs. Royal Taylor and Mrs. Jason Martin. The children of Mr. Jackson are: Mary, now the wife of Christian C. Knoblock; Charles, who is living on the old homestead farm ; James, who was drowned July 4th, 1879, in the Kalamazoo river at Allegan when sixteen years and two. months of age in company with Eddie Knoblock, a son of Adam Knoblock ; Minnie Belle, who is clerking in Dendel's store in Hopkins ; Carlotta, the wife of Elmer Stevens, a resident of Hopkins ; Frank, who died in his twenty-first year, and Joseph, who died aged two years. Mrs. Jackson also has three children by her first marriage, but none live in Allegan county, Miles H., Charles L. and Lena E. An adopted daughter. Belle Beebe, who was taken by Mrs. Beebe in infancy, was a maiden of fourteen years when

Mr. Jackson is a RepubHcan in his political views and has served as school officer, but has never been an aspirant for the honors and emoluments of public office. His time and energies have been fully claimed by his extensive and important business interests, and few men can show as good a record for unremitting activity and unfaltering diligence. His labors, too, have been of a character that have contributed in no small degree to the substantia! development of the county and those who know him honor him because his record has been characterized not only by industry, but unquestioned probity.

Daniel Tiefenth.-^l, who follows farming in Hopkins township and is numbered among the native sons of Allegan county, was born in Monterey township, August 24, 1862, his parents being William and Louisa Tiefenthal. He was only four years of age when the family removed to the vicinity of Minor Lake, in Allegan township, where he resided until eighteen years of age. He afterward spent a few months in Wexford county, where he engaged in lumbering, after which he returned to Otsego township, Allegan county, where he followed farming for eight months. He afterward lived in Hopkins township and at different times in Monterey and in Cheshire townships. He was also employed in a sawmill in Allegan for three months and engaged in farming in Schoolcraft, Returning thence to Cheshire township, he worked by the month until his savings justified his purchase of a farm, which he improved through modern methods of cultivation and through the erection of good buildings thereon. He lived upon that place for eight years and then sold his personal property, after which he went to Chicago. He was identified with business interests there, first as a milk dealer, having a route in that city, getting his supplies from farmers who made shipments to the depot. He started the enterprise with six cans, which increased until he utilized fifteen cans of milk daily. This enterprise proved a success and he made money, continuing in the business for nine and a half years. He also enlarged the scope of his activities by establishing a confectionery and stationery store on Western avenue, between Van Buren and Jackson streets, but he worked too hard, so that his health demanded a change. In the meantime he had purchased his father's old home farm in Hopkins township, comprising eighty-eight acres, a mile and a half southeast of the village. He made the purchase about two and a half years before locating thereon in March, 1902. At that time he closed out his Chicago business and took charge of the farm. The succeeding year he sold his Cheshire farm. He has since made many substantia! improvement,^ on the home place and now has a valuable property, of which sixtv acres is under cultivation. Here he carries on general farming, including the raising of grain, fruit and stock, and he is also operating a milk route in Hopkins, keeping eight cows for this purpose.

Some twenty-three years ago Mr. Tiefenthal was married in Cheshire to Miss Cariine Edward, a daughter of Joseph and Margaret Edward. She died in Chicago after fourteen years of happy married Hfe, passing away at the age of thirty-six. They had one daughter, Amber Viola, who is now a young lady at home, and they also lost a son in childhood, Garf Dewain, who was born March 27, 1887, and died September 13, 1888. On the 23d of June, 1901, Mr. Tiefenthal was again married, his second union being with Mrs, Anna Hills, nee Woodward. By her first marriage she had three children : Lulu, now the wife of Charles Bentley, of Allegan, and Frank and Raymond Hills. Her son Raymond was killed by the breaking of a singletree while driving a team at the age of eleven years, while Frank is at home on the farm. Mr. Tiefenthal has led a life of unremitting activity and enterprise, has made steady progress in business and is now comfortably situated, being in control of important and profitable farming interests.