1849, when he leased the Augusta Mills. In January, 1853, he removed to Kalamazoo village, where he is living at this date.

During Mr. Giddings' residence in the State he has been prominently known in politics, having been in early days a staunch Whig, and afterwards one of the organizers of the Republican party. While a resident of the town of Charleston he held the position of justice and supervisor, and in 1847 was elected a representative of Kalamazoo County in the State Legislature, serving one term; while living in Ross he served as supervisor several terms, and in 1852 was elected county treasurer, serving in that position four successive terms; in 1865 he was appointed by Governor Crapo quartermaster-general of the State, serving in that position for three years. In his private and official life he has always stood high in the county as a man of strict integrity, and few men in the county have stronger personal friends.

ALEXANDER J. SHELDON.

When the history of those men who by their individual efforts have done most for Kalamazoo and its improvement shall be written, the name of Alexander J. Sheldon should be first. Mr. Sheldon came to Kalamazoo in 1843, and for nearly ten years carried on the book business, for which he was peculiarly adapted, both by years of experience in Buffalo, N. Y., and by his literary tastes. In 1845 he turned his attention to the improvement of this village, then without a sidewalk or street-crossing of any kind, without a fire department, and with scarcely a village government. Within. four years by his energy he had brought order and beauty out of confusion and unsightliness. He laid down the first walk, in front of the Episcopal church, at his own cost, beginning a system of village improvements then unknown. in any town in the State save Detroit. The people, having full confidence, appointed him village marshal, and he was allowed to do whatever in his judgment he saw fit to do. He started a revolution, and the neatness, order, and pride. of the village may date from his movements. Sidewalks extended, crossings were put down, mud-holes were filled, grades were established, cattle were taken from the streets, the park was converted from mere commons and pasture to a well-regulated inclosed park, with hundreds of shadetrees planted upon it, and throughout the village. He drafted a new charter and ordinances for the government of the municipality, and placed the village on the best possible basis for the times and the population, and from that time her habits, her character, and her progress date. So with the fire companies; he was the first chief engineer, and he gave time, money, and ability to the encouragement of efforts which he inspired in behalf of fire protection; he originated and promoted the building of Firemen's Hall and the two plank-roads. He did very much towards the building up of the first Episcopal Church; he gave freely to any and all purposes which would redound to the advantage and the good name of Kalamazoo. He was prominent in all enterprises of that day. He built a fine store, kept a large and excellent stock of books and stationery; he helped others, he was everybody's friend, and was himself always poor. Elsewhere we speak of him as an editor and

publisher. He filled so many places and made such an impress upon his times that for nearly half a score of years his name, more than that of any other man, must be stamped upon the progress of Kalamazoo. He removed to Buffalo in 1853, and, after filling a number of positions, for a time being librarian of the Grosvenor Library of that city, died there in March, 1876.

ISRAEL KELLOGG.

Among the old residents of Kalamazoo, Israel Kellogg deserves remembrance, for he has been a busy worker and prominent citizen for many years, and contributed a full share to the growth and prosperity of the place.

He was born in New Canaan, Columbia Co., N. Y., near the western line of Massachusetts, in 1798. When eight years of age the family removed to the town of Warren, Herkimer Co., lying in the historic valley of the Mohawk, adjoining the celebrated "German Flats." In 1817 the family once more removed to Clayton, Jefferson Co., N. Y., and this time to the banks of the finest and grandest river on the globe,-the noble and majestic St. Lawrence.

Mr. Kellogg first visited Michigan in 1836, and purchased land, but not in Kalamazoo County. He visited Berrien County in the fall of that year, but returned to New York. He was at Kalamazoo for about one year, in 1839-40, but returned to Berrien County, where he remained for two years, when he again came to Kalamazoo and made it his permanent home. He was for ten years landlord of the famous Kalamazoo House, probably from about 1842 to 1852, and when the old original frame building was removed and the modern brick one erected in its place, he had the contract, and erected the new hotel. He was also the first building superintendent of the Michigan Asylum for the Insane, and erected a large portion of the original buildings.

About 1874, Mr. Kellogg became owner of the old Academy" building, which stood in the park until about 1857, and in which the Kalamazoo branch of the State University was located for several years. The building now stands on Willard Street, between Cooley and West Streets, and is still in a good state of repair. For the past five years Mr. Kellogg has been an invalid, having been stricken down by paralysis; but he is still quite vigorous in his mental faculties, and preserves a good recollection of events, though his memory is defective as to exact dates. His life has been long and active.

MAJ. ABRAHAM EDWARDS.

The following notice of a former prominent resident of Kalamazoo village we find in the columns of the Telegraph for May, 1878.

THE LATE MAJ. EDWARDS.

"The following brief sketch of the late Maj. Abraham Edwards was found among the papers of H. J. H. Edwards, recently deceased. It is entitled 'Reminiscences in the Life of Abraham Edwards.'

"Abraham Edwards, eldest son of the late Capt. Aaron Edwards, was born at Springfield, N. J., Nov. 17, 1781, and was licensed to practice medicine in the autumn of 1803. In June, 1804, he was appointed by President Jefferson garrison surgeon, and by the Secretary

of War, Gen. Dearborn, was ordered to Fort Wayne, Ind., where, in the month of June, 1805, he was married to Ruth Hunt, eldest daughter of the late Col. Thomas Hunt, then commanding the 1st Regiment of United States Infantry at Fort Wayne. There their three eldest children were born,-Thomas, Alexander, and Henry. In 1810, on account of the sickness of Mrs. Edwards, the doctor resigned his commission in the army, and in the spring of that year removed to Dayton, Ohio, and engaged in the practice of medicine. In the autumn of 1811 he was elected a member of the Ohio Legislature from the county of Montgomery, of which Dayton was the countyseat, and in March, 1812, was appointed a captain by President Madison in the 19th Regiment of United States Infantry, as the prospect of a war with England was apparent. Gen. Hull was ordered to Dayton, Ohio, to organize an army with which he was to proceed to Detroit to protect that frontier. Three regiments of Ohio volunteers were at Dayton when the general arrived; the regiments were commanded by Cols. McArthur, Cass, and Findlay. The 4th Regiment of United States Infantry, commanded by Col. James Miller, joined the volunteer regiment at Urbana, to which place they had marched a few days previously. Gen. Hull had been authorized by the President (Mr. Madison) to arrange an army staff, and, as the office of surgeon in the 4th Regiment United States Infantry was vacant, Dr. Edwards was appointed to fill the vacancy during the campaign, and also ordered to take charge of the medical department of the army as the hospital surgeon, in which capacity he served until the inglorious surrender of the army at Detroit in August, 1812, when he was paroled by Gen. Brock and permitted to return to his residence in Ohio, and after being exchanged was ordered to Chillicothe, as a captain in the line of the army, to superintend the recruiting service of that State.

"In November, 1813, he received an order from Gen. Cass, who was then in command at Detroit, to proceed to that place to take command of about 200 men belonging to the 19th Regiment. During the same month he arrived at Detroit, and assumed command, as before mentioned, and in December of the same year, received an order from the War Department to accompany Gen. Cass and other officers to Albany, as a witness in the court-martial about to assemble for the trial of Gen. Hull. During the winter of 1813 and 1814 he visited Washington, and was appointed by the President deputy quartermastergeneral with the rank of major, and ordered to take charge of the quartermaster stores at Pittsburgh, where he remained until the close of the war, in 1815, when it was left at his option to be retained in the army on the peace establishment as a captain of infantry; but he chose the walks of private life, and removed to Detroit. When President Monroe made his tour of the United States, in 1816 and 1817, and visited Detroit, Maj. Edwards was president of the board of trustees, and with the corporate authoirties of Detroit visited the President at Governor Cass' residence and tendered him the hospitalities of the town, and a few days after, when he was about to leave for Ohio, made him another visit, and in the name of the corporation presented him with a pair of horses and a wagon to convey his baggage to Ohio. In 1818, Governor Cass organized the militia and made appointments in the same.

"Maj. Edwards was appointed first aid to the commander-in-chief, with the rank of colonel, in 1823. The first legislative council was elected in 1824; the first legislative session was held at Detroit, and Maj. Edwards was unanimously elected president of the council, which place he filled for eight years. In the month of March, 1831, he was appointed register of the United States land-office for the Western District of Michigan, by President Jackson, previous to which appointment he had held the office of sub Indian agent for the Indians residing in St. Joseph Co., Mich., and Northern Indiana. The office of register of the United States land-office was held by Maj. Edwards until after the election of Gen. Taylor, when he was removed for being a Democrat. Maj. Edwards was one of the Presidential elec

tors for the State of Michigan, and cast his vote for Franklin Pierce, President, and King, Vice-President. He was also high sheriff of Wayne County, appointed to the office in 1824-25."

Maj. Edwards was register of the land-office at White Pigeon, and upon its removal to Kalamazoo in 1834 he came with it, and continued to hold the office until 1849. Two of his sons, Alexander and Thomas, were employed in the office as clerks. Maj. Edwards continued to reside in Kalamazoo until his death, which occurred in 1860. He was a brother-in-law of Governor Cass, and of Gen. John E. Hunt, of Toledo, Ohio, and was a man highly respected by the community in which he lived.

REV. LEONARD SLATER

was born in Worcester, Mass., in 1802, and was brought up to the rope-making business, at which he worked until he became of age. During the latter part of this time he began studying for the ministry with Rev. Jonathan Going. On the 29th of May, 1826, he married Mary F. Ide, of Vermont, and in the autumn of the same year removed to the Carey mission, at Niles, Mich., as a Baptist missionary. He passed through the valley now occupied by the village of Kalamazoo, then only tenanted by the French trader, Numaiville, and was greatly delighted with the locality. He remained at the Carey mission, assisting the Rev. Mr. McCoy, the pioneer Baptist missionary in the West and the founder of Carey mission, until the spring of 1827, when he was placed in charge of the Thomas mission, at Grand Rapids, established by Rev. McCoy late in the preceding

autumn.

Mr. Slater remained at Grand Rapids, laboring as missionary and teacher for the Ottawa Indians, for about ten years. In 1836 he purchased eighty acres of land in Prairieville township, Barry Co., and had charge of an Indian mission and school at that place, known as "Slater Station." In 1852 he removed thence to Kalamazoo, and for a number of years preached regularly every Sunday to his late charge at Slater's Station, riding up on Saturdays and returning on Mondays.

Mr. Slater died at Kalamazoo on the 27th of April, 1866, and his wife died June 7, 1851. He is buried near the spot, now in Riverside Cemetery, from which he had his first view of the beautiful Kalamazoo valley, in the autumn of 1826.

He left six children, who are all now living except one. Their names and births were as follows: Sarah Emily, born Aug. 12, 1827; George L., Feb. 9, 1829; Francis I., Dec. 29, 1832; Brainard, Sept. 21, 1835; Julia, April 21, 1838; Benjamin Dwight, Sept. 18, 1840.

The Slater family is of English extraction on the father's side, and Scotch on the mother's side.

was born in Deerfield, Rockingham Co., N. H., Oct. 14, 1810. He was of English descent, and both grandfathers served in the war of the Revolution. Moses Barnard entered the army as colonel of a regiment. Thomas Wilson, the maternal grandfather, entered it when eighteen years of age, served through the war, and was promoted to a colonelcy.

When Thomas W. Barnard was six years of age, his parents moved to the then remote frontier of Western New York. Thomas W. remained with the family until he attained majority. In 1832 he came to Kalamazoo with the Gibbs brothers, arriving in time to assist in raising the old Kalamazoo House, one of the first frame buildings in the then, not very big village. The ensuing autumn he purchased from government a quarter-section of land near Wood's Lake. Returning to New York, he gave such a glowing account of the country that he induced the family, consisting of his father, mother, and two sisters, to return with him to his new home. The journey was performed in a wagon through Canada. Mr. Barnard and his father soon became familiar with the new country, and rendered good service to newly-arriving settlers in assisting them to find desirable locations. For this service they received such compensation as enabled them to improve their own home. As early as 1835 they manufactured lime from marl, found upon their own. land.

In 1838 Mr. Barnard married Lazetta, daughter of David Southworth, who came from Broome Co.,

N. Y., in 1837, and settled on a large farm near St. Joseph, where he died in 1840. To this union were born eight children,-four of whom died in infancy. Thomas W. Barnard and wife passed their entire married life, of thirty-eight years, upon the farm where they first settled, which is still in possession of the children, and where they died, he March 15, 1876, and Mrs. Barnard, Dec. 30, 1878.

In speaking of the death of Mr. Barnard, one of the county papers says,

"We have to announce the death of Thomas Wilson Barnard, one of the early settlers of Kalamazoo township, a citizen known to nearly all the early pioneers of Western Michigan. He was a man of marked character, and sterling integrity. Those who knew him best loved him most. Never existed a truer friend or a more generous nature. In his charities, which were numerous and varied, he gave with a singular discretion. He was selected in an early day to bear a prominent part in the opening of roads, in organizing town affairs, and as highway commissioner. Several of the first roads were laid out and worked under his supervision.

"Mrs. Barnard was a woman of superior intelligence, and a kind and judicious mother. She left no duty unfulfilled. Her life was one of active usefulness and unselfish devotion to her family, and it was here in the home circle as wife and mother that her many noble qualities of head and heart found fullest play."