History of Michigan, / by Charles Moore. [Vol. 3]

1220

HISTORY OF MICHIGAN

Of their five children three are deceased, and the other survivor is Catherine, wife of John McDonald, of Stone Church, Pennsylvania.
Mr. Loder acquired an education in the public schools of Northampton, and at the age of fifteen began to work on a farm in New Jersey.
Two years later, in I868, he came west and at Lapeer entered the employ
of his brother, William J. Loder, who was the pioneer hardware merchant
and tinner of that community. Under his brother's direction he learned
the trade of tinner, and continued for six years in his employ. William
J. Loder then formed the partnership of Loder & Sutton, which was one
of the successful firms in business at Lapeer until I88I. B. F. Loder
throughout this time remained with the firm, and then bought out the
business, and was himself one of the foremost merchants of Lapeer
from I88I until I90O, when he sold out. The following two years were
spent in a well-earned rest, but he returned to business as the organizer
and active head of the Lapeer Savings Bank, and is still closely identified
with the larger phases of business in this part of the state.
At the same time he has acquired large interests as a farmer and
land owner, and has had an active part in the developing of Lapeer as
a business center and is a hard worker for civic improvements along all
lines. Mr. Loder has taken the Knight Templar degree in Masonry and
belongs to the Flint Commapdery. He is a trustee and elder in the Presbyterian church, and has been officially identified with that society many
years. On February 24, 1870, occurred his marriage to Miss Laurentia
Clark, daughter of Major Clark. Mr. Loder is a Democrat, and has
held the offices of alderman and city tax collector at Lapeer.
HARMON EUGENE MOREHOUSE. In June, I9II, the thriving manufacturing interests of Jackson, Michigan, were given impetus by the
addition of a new and energetic concern, the Watts-Morehouse Company, manufacturers of corn shellers and dealers in dairy and builders'
supplies, buggies, carriages and agricultural implements. Although in
the field for only three years, this industry has steadily grown and
developed, and today is one of the leading enterprises of the city. Much
of the success of this concern must be accredited to the progressive and
persevering efforts of its young treasurer and general manager, Harmon
Eugene Morehouse, whose rise in the business world has come through
steady application rather than through any happy chance or adventitious
circumstances. Mr. Morehouse is a native son of Jackson county, Michigan, having been born in a log house on a farm in Leoni township,
November 4, I880, a son of the Rev. Frank Eugene and Ida A. (Watts)
Morehouse, and a grandson of Ezra Morehouse, who came to Michigan
from the state of New York at an early day.
Rev. Frank Eugene Morehouse was born in Hillsdale county, Michigan, August 24, I854, and after completing the curriculum of the public
schools became a student of Albion College, following his graduation
from which he embarked in agricultural pursuits. Later he entered the
ministry of the Methodist church, and for many years was a zealous
preacher of the gospel, holding charges in various parts of Michigan.
He died at Jackson, January i6, 1908. He married Ida A. Watts, a
sister of William Watts, the president of the Watts-Morehouse Company. She was born in 1857, in the same log house in Leoni township
in which the birth of her son, Harmon E., took place. Five children
were born to Rev. Frank E. and Ida A. Morehouse, namely: Jessie,
who is the wife of Ernest Showerman, of Jackson; Maud, who is the
wife of DeForest Sanford, of Jackson; Edna, who is the wife of Arthur
A. Nagler, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, a student in Harvard College;
Harmon Eugene; and Paul, who lives with his brother at Jackson.