Fred G Adler, Seltzer ale and beer bottler,
118 East Main Street, was born in Germany in 1851;
came to the United States when he was a boy and
located in Peru, Ill, where he received a limited
education; his father and mother died when he was a
mere boy. In 1861 he learned the baker's trade in
Ottawa, Ill, where he remained until 1869, then went
to Chicago, where he was employed as night watchman;
was there at the great fire and was second
superintendent of the lodging house of the Relief and
Aid Society; in 1877 came to Jackson and was employed
by Wicks Co. in the bottling business. Mr Alder
married Miss Dora Brooks, a native of Germany, but
reared in Illnois. They have 2 children - Fred B and
Garfield Arthur; is a member of the Improved Order of
Red Men, and is Vice-President of the same; also the
Manhattan Tribe; is President of the Turn-verein; also
a member of the Aurora Turn-verein.
James M Aihen, retired farmer and manufacturer of lumber, is a native of Vermont, but was brought up in Yates Co., N. Y., where he resided 28 years, occupied chiefly with the lumber trade. About the age of 21 he married Philena Arnold, who died, leaving him with one son and one daugther. In October, 1850, he came to Michigan to take observations. He spent three months propecting and a year later transferred his family to Jackson. The following May he went to Adrian, where he remained 18 months, then he afterward engaged in farming in Hillsdale county for a time, when he returned to Lenawee county, there following the same pursuit. He disposed of his farm and wnet the pineries in 1866, where he remained four years. He with a partner bought 500 acres of land, engaged in the lumber trade, and after heavylosses returned to jackson. In 1859 he married Jane Bateman, a native of Tennessee; brought up in Lenawee county. They are the parents of six sons and one daughter; the eldest son is a salesman in the dry-goods house of W. M. Bennett. Mr Aihen is a member of the Jackson Memorial Club.
John A Alden, Assistant Clerk in Michigan State Prison, is a son of Alanson and Clarissa D (Buckley) Alden and was born in Chenaugo County, N. Y., June 12, 1839. His father was of Puritan ancestry, born in Pennsylvania; mother, a native of New York State, and the daughter of a Methodist clergyman. Mr Alden passes his childhood and youth in Genesee and Erie counties until 19, then came to Hillsdale County, Michigan, and attended the college three years, teaching at intervals. He enlisted in Co. H, 45th Mich. Inf., in May 1861, serving as a private and non-commissioned officer until he was sent home on recruiting duty in 1864; participated in the battle of first Bull Run, New Brider, the seven days' battles on the peninsula with McClellan, Chancelorsbille, Mine Run; re-enlisted early in 1864, and soon after came home on recruiting service, remaining till mustered out in September, 1865. After retiring from the army, Mr. Alden was employed as salesman and bookkeeper for different firms a number of years, was three years freight clerk in the Jackson office of the M.C.R.R. Co.; has been in his present position some years. He married Miss Louise Metz Dec. 25, 1865. They have one daughter and one son. Mr Alden is a member of the Masonic order, lodge and chapter.
No. 409 Blackman Street, foreman of the
finishing shop of Withington & Cooley, was born in
Batavia, Genesee Co., N. Y., Jan. 15, 1832. He is the
son of Chas. H. and Elizabeth Marvin Aldrich, of
Batavia. His father died there when he was but a lad,
leaving his widow with five children, of whom Ezra was
the fourth. He remained at his place of birth until
the age of 17, going to school in the country and in
Batavia. He came to Michigan in 1848, stopped at the
old station east of Parma, where he spent the winter
clerking in a country store. In the summer of 1849 he
engaged in a store in Parma, where he remained until
the spring of 1852, when he crossed the plains to
California, where he mined for gold fours year, but to
little purpose, and he returned in 1857 to Jackson. He
entered the employ of Hayden & Co., remaining nine
and one-half years. During the last siz years of that
time he had general oversight of their business in
both mills. He spent two years in the oil regions of
Pennsylvania, developing oil territory, and made
money. He returned to Jackson and bought an interest
in the hardware business with Rice, Pratt, Gibson, in
which he continued four years. He spent nine years in
Mississippi, a portion of which time he engaged in
farming in the northern part, but did not prosper; and
in December, 1878, he returned to Jackson, and most of
the time since has been in his present occupation,
where he has charge of 35 men. In April, 1861, he
married Charlotte, daughter of Joseph E. Beebe, the
founder of the Austin, Tomlinson & Webster Wagon
Works. They have one son, Eddie, aged seven, and two
daughters - Julia, aged 12, and Marion, four years
old. Mr Aldrich is a Knight Templar.
The northern portion of Jackson county was
comparatively well settled before the commonwealth of
Michigan became a state. A few of the old settlers
still remain, but the greater part of the present
inhabitants are their descendants, some of them even
unto the sixth generation. Among the very oldest
families of Rives and Tompkins Townships is the
Anderson family, one of whom is Charles S. Anderson,
the subject of this biography. His grandfather, Robert
Anderson, was the first settler of the family to
become a resident of the county. He was a native of
Ireland, came to America in the early part of the last
century and along in the thirties located in Jackson
county, where he purchased a tract of government land,
cleared it, improved it and made it the family home.
He and his wife were the parents of seven children and
on the death of the parents one of the sons, Charles
S. Anderson, father of the subject, purchased the
interest of the other heirs and became the owner of
the place.
Charles S. Anderson is a native, of the state of
Michigan. He was born in Rives township, Jackson
county, April 21, 1876, the son of Charles S. and
Vestelina (Fields)Anderson [daughter of Thomas &
Charity (McKain) Field- note by jf], who were also
natives of Jackson county, where they were reared and
educated. He was a farmer and devoted his time and
attention to that pursuit all his life. Becoming
possessed of the old family homestead after the death
of his father, he moved his family thereto and there
remained during the remaining years of his life. For
eighteen years previous to his death he was
superintendent of the county poor. In politics he was
an active and zealous Democrat and a liberal
contributor to the necessary expenses of the party. He
was a man well and favorably known throughout the
northern part of the county where he had lived all his
life. He died October 25, 1897, while his worthy wife
is still living on the old home place. To this worthy
couple nine children were born, viz: Claudia is the
wife of Arthur J. Palmer, a farmer of Rives Township,
and they are the parents of three children; Mary
married William Robbins, a farmer of Rives Township,
and they are the parents of four children; Floyd, who
is a farmer in Rives Township, married Miss Myrtie
Levengood, and they are the parents of three children;
Blanche is the wife of .Charles Blood, a farmer of
Rives township, and two children have been born to
them; Arvilla married William Jones, a farmer of Rives
Township, and they are the parents of one child;
Charles S. is the subject of this memoir; Leon married
Grace Smith and resides in the city of Jackson; Edna
is the wife of Homer E. Wilbur, a farmer of Rives
Township; Nellie wedded Burr Jones, a resident of
Rives Township. All of them are musically inclined,
and each is comfortably settled in life.
On the old family homestead Charles S. Anderson grew
to manhood. He early became accustomed to the usual
hard work necessary to be done in tilling the soil and
gathering the crops. His education, however, was by no
means neglected, as he attended school and profited by
the instruction, mastering the branches usually taught
in the common schools long before he obtained his
majority. On arriving at the age of twenty-one years
he entered his father's employ on the farm at a stated
salary. At the age of twenty-two years he was desirous
of seeing a little more of the world than he had yet
beheld. Accordingly he took a tour of the west,
traveling through many states and observing conditions
and people, but being particularly interested in
agriculture, as pursued in the various localities.
When he returned home and his journey was at an end he
was in a far better frame of mind than when he went
away. He felt that Michigan, his native state and the
native state of his parents, was good enough for him.
April 17, 1900, Mr. Anderson was united in marriage to
Miss Anna Smith, a native of Jackson County, born
April 14, 1883. Her parents are Charles L. and Estella
(Gibbons) Smith, natives of New York and of Michigan,
respectively. He is one of the successful farmers of
Blackman Township. The Smith family is of German
ancestry, Mrs. Anderson's great-grandfather having
been a native of the fatherland. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith
four children have been born, viz: Grace is the wife
of Leon Anderson, brother of the subject of this
memoir; Anna is the wife of the subject; Roy and Allen
R. are still at home with their parents. Each of the
children has received a good education and the girls
are skilled musicians. One child, Bertine, has been
born to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, the date of her birth
being, February 13, 1901.
About the time of his marriage Charles S. Anderson
purchased forty acres of land in Rives Township and
this the family has since made their home. It, with
forty acres of the old homestead which he rents from
his mother, furnishes him all the land he desires to
cultivate. He breeds and feeds Durham and Jersey
cattle, Ohio Improved Chester hogs and some horses. In
politics he is a Democrat and both he and his wife are
members of the Maccabees, belonging respectively to
Tent No. 868 and Hive No. 628. Mr. Anderson is a young
man possessed of considerable ability, good judgment
and many sterling qualities that are destined to win
for him most gratifying success.
John Anderson, proprietor of Anderson's Carriage Manufactory, is a native of Lockport, Niagara Co, N. Y., born June 1, 1832. His parents, Alexander and Margaret Anderson, natives of the State, died during his childhood, and from the age of 11 years he was thrown upon his own resources, and educated himself chiefly by private effort. From 12 years of age till past 16 he was store boy and clerk in Lockport; left on account of failing health and learned the tanner's trade; worked at it seven years, then learned the trade of carriage trimming, changing location serveral times meantime; came to Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1856, and in company with two other gentlemen established a carriage factory; less than a year after sold his interest and went to Mississippi and pursued his trade as a journeyman until June, 1861; then returned to Grass Lake, jackson Co., and followed his trade till 1867, and the first of April, 1871, removed to jackson and established his present business. Mr. A. makes a specialty, of fine, light carriages and buggies, employs from 6 to 18 men and turns out $8,000 to $10,00 worth of work per years, of which side-bar buggies and phaetons are the principal features. Mr. Anderson married Miss Mary Willis, of Lockport, N. Y., in 1854. A son and a daughter are the fruit of their union. The son, Frank W, is now married and working at the business with his father.
Dr A DeLafayette Angell, Physician and
surgeon, 118 East Main Street, is a son of David and
Melinda (Brown) Angell; father a native of Rhode
Island and mother of Newport, New Hampshire. He ws
born in Bridgewater, May 4, 1822; was raised on a farm
and received what schooling there was to be had in the
common schools of Bridgewater and Woodstock. He
commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Gallup, of
Woodstock, where he remained three years; in 1842
attended Castleton Medical College and graduated in
1845; came to Michigan and located near Adrian, where
he remained but a short time. Then went to Williams
County, Ohio, and practiced three years; thence to
Canandaigua, Mich., where he remained four year; then
back to the vicinity of Adrian for a number of years.
In 1861 he located in Coldwater, and waas there until
1870, when he came to Jackson, where he still follows
his profession. He married Miss Martha A. Yagar, of
Coldwater, Mich., the daughter of Weston Yagar, a
native of Ontario County, N. Y.; she was born in
April, 1843. There are two children - A. DeLafayette
and Mattie May.
Wm J P Armstrong, retired merchant, is a son
of Andrew and Betsy (Winter) Armstrong, natives of
Montgomery County, and was born in Genesee County, N
Y., June, 1821. He married for his first wife Miss
Charlotte Smith, who died in 1856. In 1853 he went to
California, and in returning home took passage on the
ship Yankee Blade, Henry Randall, Commander,
which was wrecked Sept 30,1854, when 30 lives were
lost. Mr. Armstrong lost all his possessions, and
returned to California again, remaining there two
years; then returned to his home in Michigan; in
April, 1859, went to Pike's Peak and returned in the
fall of the same year. In the winter of 1860 he took
another trip to California, where he remained four
years. Previous to going, in 1857, he married Miss
Ellen Owen, of Genesee County, N.Y. There were three
children - Ida E., born July 17, 1858; June W., born
June 23, 1865; Edith May, born March 3, 1873, and died
May 22, 1878, After returning from California Mr.
Armstrong laid out what is known as Armstrong's
addition to the village of Leslie, in Ingham County;
donated the ground for the public-school building, and
was one of leading men of the village; is a
stockholder in the First National Bank of Leslie. Mr.
Armstrong came to Michigan a poor man, but by hard
knocks has accumulated a fine property.
Nelson L. Avery, engineer M.C.R.R., was born in Herkimer County, N.Y., Sept. 14, 1845; was the son of James and Mary Ann Avery; father a native of New York State, andmother of Connecticut. The family consisted of three children - two boys and one girl. The subject of this sketch was reared on a farm, worked summers, and attended school during the winter. In 1869 he came to Kalamazoo, Mich., where he followed farming. In 1872 he commenced work on the railroad as fireman, and in 1879 was promoted to engineer. He married Miss Mary Rider, a native of New York, who was born March 10, 1851. There were five children, four of whom are living - William J, Albert N., Clinton F, and Otis E.
