History of Ottawa County, Michigan with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers.

4;. I 4 ~L

- - -

70

HISTORY OF OTTAWA COUNTY.

-

- - -

furnishing fruit packages to fruit growers, and still devotes most of
his time during the season to that business. Mr. Sessions is a
brother of Hon. Alonzo Sessions, who was Lieut. Goyernor of Michigan from 1876.to 1880.
WALTER G. SINCLAIR is a native of Illinois, and in 1855 came
to Spring Lake from Chicago. For several years Mr. Sinclair was
engaged at lumbering in the woods, and in 1879 took the position of
foreman and book-keeper for the lumber firm of Sisson & Lilley, in
which place he still continues.
O. SLAUGHTER is a native of Hollandl, and came to this country
in 1851. -In 1870 he removed to Spring Lake from Eastmanville,
Ottawa County, and opened a meat market in which business he
still continues.
J. VANDERBERG is a native of Holland and came to Spring Lake
in 1858, and has resided here continuously since that time. He has
been scaling lumber since 1869.
JOSEPH VOLMER is a native of New York, and came to Spring
Lake in 1867, and began work in the mills as engineer. In 1873
he entered the employ of Sisson & Lilley as engineer at their mill,
and has continued in that place ever since.
WARNER Voss is a native of Holland, and came to this country
in 1853. In 1856 he camie to Spring Lake, and for twelve years
worked for Cutler & Savidge in charge of millwright work. From
1868 to 1873 he was a member of the lumber firml of Monroe,
Thompson & Co. Iln 1873 the mill burned and Mr. Voss built several mills up north, after which he returned to Spring Lake, and at
the present time is millwright for the Cutler & Savidge Lumber
Company.
DR. W. S. WALKLEY is a native of Hillsdale, Michigan, and in
1853 came with his parents to Casnovia, Muskegon County. His early
life was spent in assisting his father to clear up land and work the
farm. In 1864 he enlisted as a private in the 24th Michigan Infantry. He was in active service until the close of the war, and was
then engaged in the Freedman's Bureau in North Carolina. In 1877
he graduated at Ann Arbor, and immediately began the practice of
medicine. In 1879 he came to Spring Lake and opened an office.
He already has an excellent practice and ranks well among the physicians of the county.
WILLIAM WALLACE is a native of Scotland, and came to this
country in 1869. In 1870, soon after coming to Michigan, he went
into the employ of the Detroit & Grand Haven Railway Company,
and in 1874 was made station master and express agent at Spring
Lake, where he resides at the present time.
MARTIN WALSH was born in Ireland in 1828, and came to this
country in 1849. In the fall of 1856 he came to Spring Lake from
New York. At the breaking out of the war he enlisted in the service and served the country well until he received his discharge in
1864. He enlisted as private, and during his service was promoted
to First Lieutenant. Mr. Walsh was an excellent soldier and did
good service, but was fortunate enough to escape without a bullet
scratch, or a taste of hospital life. Upon leaving the service he returned to Spring Lake and opened a store with a general stock of
dry goods, clothing, groceries, etc. He still continues in the same
business, which has increased to very large proportions, and he now
has one of the finest stores in the county. Mr. Walsh is a shrewd

business man, and has prospered in his undertakings. He is an
active and enterprising citizen, and always ready to lend a helping
hand to everything that his judgment approves.
JAMES WEBSTER was born in Spring Lake, June 19, 1855. His
father was a day laborer, and young James was brought up to work.
In 1859 his parents returned to England and stayed there about one
year, returning to Spring Lake in 1860. James has resided there

till the present time. In 1881, October 29, he married Miss Ellen
Brady, of Spring Lake.
J. N. WILLIAMS is a native of Massachusetts, and came to
Spring Lake, and entered the employ of the Cutler & Savidge Company in 1872. In 1879 he was made foreman of the mill known as
mill No. 3, which position he still holds. Mr. Williams has been at
mill work since 1867.
FREDERICK WILLIE was born in January 1850, and when 18
years of age, left his native land, landing in New York on the 15th
of September, 1868. Thence he pushed on to Milwaukee, and
afterwards to Manistee, returning in 1871 to Milwaukee. Next
year he removed to Muskegon City, but in the same year he went to
work in the Ferrysburg Iron Works. In 1879 he commenced to
work for the Cutler & Savidge Lumber Company, in whose employ
he still is. In 1872 he married Abbie Hudson, of Ferrysburg, by
whom he has three children.
ALEXANDER WOOD was born in Scotland in 1839, and came to
I this country in 1849. For some time prior to the war he was
agent for the Creek Indians, in the Indian Territory. At the commencemllent of the war he was taken prisoner by Confederate soldiers,
and was kept at work at his trade, blacksmithing, in Texas and that
vicinity until the close of the war. He was an excellent mechanic,
and that fact probably saved him his life. At the close of the war
he went into Arkansas, and was in the employ of the Government
for two years. At the end of that time he went to Wisconsin, where
he remained two years and then came to Spring Lake, where he has
since resided and carried on the business of blacksmithing.
NORTONVILLE.
Nortonville, two miles up the river above Spring Lake, was
founded by Col. Amos Norton, who arrived in 1837 and built Norton's mill. There is a public school, which is part of the village
[ system of schools, under Miss Edith Miller, with sixty-five pupils.
I Mr. Norton, Jabez Barber and Mr. Middlemiss, the latter of
whom sold out the Washington House at the Haven and kept the
Barber Boarding House at Mill Point, were all Canadian patriots
in 1837, and early pioneers of Spring Lake.
At Nortonville the great industry is sawmilling, the mill of
WHITE, FRIANT & CO.,
called the Nortonville mill, has a cutting capacity of 200,000 feet
per day, an engine of 400 horse-power, which, in 1881, was supplemented by another of half that power, and employs on an average
115 men. The officers of the mill are: Foreman, C. J. Abbott;
engineer, J. H. Norris; filers, R. Gebott andArchie Sullivan; bookkeeper, Wm. Stewart; millwright, Wm. Brough.
The foreman, C. J. ABBOTT, was born in London, Ontario, in
1854, and came to this State in 1867, engaging in the lumber business, and has for the last five years worked for his present employers. In 1880 he married Miss Lillie F. Crane, born in Greenville,
Michigan.
The engineer, JAMES H. NORRIS, was born in Washtenaw Co.,
Mich., in 1830, removed thence to Kent County, and in 1869 came
to Grand Haven, for three months acting as foreman in Friant &

Hall's sawmill when he was promoted to be engineer, laboring
seven years with the same firm. He has also been engineer of tugs
for several years, among these was the "Claude." On April 6th,
1853, he married Carolina A. Friant, by whom he has had two
children, one of whom survives.
R. H. GEBOTT, saw-filer, was born in Caistor, Lincoln County,
Ontario, in 1855, and at 12 years of age moved to Wellington Co.,
Ontario. In 1881 he came to Grand Haven, going at once to work

I-q.? (9 - f