Our subject passed his boyhood days in his native county and was there engaged in the pursuit of his studies. After having finished his course at the school which he attended, he read medicine with Dr. Thompson and attended his lectures at Buffalo, N.Y. Compelled to work his way through the medical college, he was so fortunate as to get a good position to travel during the vacation for the firm of Porter & Sanborn. He was to introduce school books and especially Towne's Readers, generally advertising the firm. Making a marked success in this branch of the trade, he was offered a position with the firm and gained so good an insight into the business while with them, that in 1850 he went into business for himself in the city of Rochester, doing a wholesale and retail and publishing business. The firm name was Wanzer, Beardsley & Co. Thus established, he felt himself justified in taking upon himself the responsibilities of matrimonial life.

     January 22, 1850, Mr. Kerr was united in marriage with Miss Polly P. Phelps and in Rochester he made his home and was engaged in business until the time of his going to Detroit in 1854. At the last-named place he established a publishing house under the firm name of Kerr, Doughty & Lapham and conducted a wholesale and retail business in books, first locating on Jefferson Avenue and afterward on Woodward Avenue. While still thus connected he secured the contract for furnishing the State with stationery. Recognizing an opening for the right kind of men for securing the State work, Mr. Kerr sold out his interests in Detroit and came to Lansing in 1859. He purchased the State printing office and secured Rufus Hosmer as partner; after Mr. Hosmer's death it was continued under the firm name of Kerr & Co. The company contracted to do all the State printing and binding and our subject built the block afterward used by the State Republican. Prior to his death Mr. Kerr had built up a thriving business and was recognized as one of the leading business men of the city and State. 

     A man whose capabilities were early recognized, Mr. Kerr was quickly pushed to the front in the official management of the city. He was elected Mayor of Lansing, being the second to serve in that capacity after the incorporation of the municipality; prior to this he had been Supervisor of the township. The town being so new at the time he was Mayor, very few improvements had been made, and to him belongs the credit of inaugurating a new system of beautifying streets and making the city generally more attractive. He caused the double rows of trees to be set on the streets, the latter to be reduced to a uniform grade and in many other ways improving the place. Mr. Kerr was the first property owner to introduce gas into his house and office as an illuminating agent, manufacturing his own supply and on his own premises.

     On first coming to the city and before bringing his family hither our subject purchased the block located on the corner of St. Joseph and Grand (698) Streets and here he completed a fine home that is still imposing in size and style of architecture. It was the first really fine dwelling erected in the city of Lansing and still maintains its prestige. The house, which is Colonial in its simplicity thereby acquiring an added dignity and elegance stands on the southwest corner of the block and surrounded by a well kept and velvety lawn, shade trees of choice varieties and varied shades of foliage, making the place an ideal sylvan retreat that yet is the favorite meeting place for the best classes of people in the city. The parlors of the beautiful home, presided over by a charming hostess, have been the scene for many a bon mot, and here the choicest spirits have met, ranging in nature "from grave to gay, from lively to severe."

     Mr. Kerr was ever an active business man; he managed successfully a large amount of real estate and realized from that a handsome profit. He was by nature a liberal and public-spirited person. During the War of the Rebellion, although he was incapacitated for active service because of the official position he held in the city of his residence he used his influence and means most liberally for the aid of the brave soldiers who went out. Our subject was a scholar, his literary taste in literature was of the most refined and cultured character. At the time of his death he was the possessor of very fine library, volumes selected with care at different times during his career; most of the were handsomely bound by himself. Conspicuous among the large number of books included in his library are the works of the British poets, fine bound in one hundred and sixty volumes. That he was a lover of fiction is shown by the many novels of the better class found on the shelves, and among these are the Waverly novels; Harper magazines are also here found, from the first number until the present time. His tastes as a bibliophile are also shown by a very rare collection old and valuable works, many of which are the only editions extant. It is, all in all, not simply a large library, but a very rare collection. Although as a youth he had not the advantages of high collegiate work, he was at the time of his death highly educated man, so made by his own efforts,  having been throughout life a great and discriminating reader and student.

     Mr. Kerr's useful career on earth was suddenly ended July 29, 1868, while returning from St. Catherines, where he had been for his health. His death took place in one of the coaches of the Great Western Railroad near London, Canada. He was brought to Lansing and with the greatest honors and, deference that could be shown by his associates, both in business life and social relations, amid a great concourse of people, who were assembled is to pay the last tribute of respect to one of the men who had done so much to make a reputation, for all that is desirable in the capital city of Michigan, his body was interred in the Lansing cemetery August 1, 1868. Being a member both of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and of the Masons, the ceremonial was conducted with the pomp and solemnity for which these orders are as conspicuous. Politically he was in early life a Whig, but on the organization of the Republican party he was one of the first men to aid its growth in this State and was always thereafter recognized as one of the most prominent leaders of the party.

     Our subject's wife, who was before her marriage Miss Phelps, was born in Ira, Cayuga County, N.Y., January 27, 1827. She is a daughter of Deacon Israel and Ruth (Hawley) Phelps, and received her education at the Auburn (N.Y.,) Female Seminary. She is a bright and intellectual woman of varied accomplishments and large capabilities and was of great assistance to Mr. Kerr in his business career. Even before their marriage she assisted him financially so that he was enabled to take the stand in commercial life that he acquired. She is a woman of large artistic taste and instinct and the credit of the plans that made his home so beautiful belongs in no small degree to her. She has decorated it and taken her part as hostess so well that it is one of the noted resorts of of this part of the State for men and women of culture and intelligence.

     Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Kerr one child survives, by name Elizabeth R. She is now Mrs. Dr. Hull, of Gettysburg, S. Dak., and is the mother of two children, Ergo Charles and Otho. Mrs. Kerr's children who died are Charles E., who (699) survived his father's death five years and passed away while in the flower of his young manhood when twenty-two years of age, and a little daughter, Mary P., who was taken away when only six months of age. Mrs. Kerr is a member of the First Presbyterian Church and has been so connected for many years, her training being largely dependent upon her church relations, as her parents were devoted members of that body.

     In connection with this sketch appears a lithographic portrait of Mr. Kerr.

     CHARLES T. HYNE. It gives us pleasure to the events in the career of a man whose tendencies have always been in an upward direction. We frequently associate chance with success, but the etymology of the word allows no such association. Success is that which crowns achievement, and there must be vigor and force to achieve. He whose name heads this sketch is a successful man not only in a business way, intimating that he has attained a good financial standing, but by rising to the best ideal that we have of manliness. He is endowed with a bright intellect, and clear, quick perceptive faculties; a business man of no (700)  mean caliber and one who is held in the highest esteem by his friends and associates.

     Mr. Hyne, who has for more than fifty years been a resident of Brighton Township, Livingston County, is a native of Prussia and was born in the village of Somerta, near Alfoot, in Saxony, September 21, 1824. His father, Godfrey Hyne, was a native of the same country and locality, and was by calling a farmer and fruit grower. He emigrated to America with his family in 1840. He landed in New York after a tedious voyage of twelve weeks on the ocean. Three weeks later he arrived in Detroit with his family, and from this place he came direct to Livingston County, settling in Brighton Township where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of virgin forest land.

     At the time of the advent of our subject's father in this county, there were but very few settler's in the township. A log house was soon built and in that the family lived for several years. The forests abounded in wild game, and Indians frequently visited the settlement. Godfrey Hyne was an industrious, hard working man and well educated, although suffering a disadvantage in this country from his imperfect knowledge of English. He was, however, thoroughly conversant with business methods. He lived to clear and improve a considerable tract of land, and died May 11, 1874, at the ripe old age of four-score years. He was a zealous Christian and a lifelong member of the Lutheran Church. Our subject's mother bore the maiden name of Mary Tietman. She was a native of the same place as was her husband. She was the mother of five children, and feeling that her work on earth was well done, her decease took place in March 1878, at the age of eighty-four years.

     Mr. Hyne's eldest brother, Godfrey, was a natural mechanic. He had learned the carpenter's trade, and also that of a millwright, but died in 1842, two years after coming to this country. William the second brother, and entered the King's service early in life. He was promoted from one position to another until he finally became Police Judge for the city of Northausen, which position was filled with credit until a few years ago, when he resigned on account of old age. The fourth brother or the one younger than our subject who is the third in order of birth, Frederick C., is now a retired business man living in Fowlerville. The fifth a daughter Annie, is deceased. He of whom we write was reared in his native village where also he attended school from the years of five to fourteen years, inclusive. He was about sixteen years of age when he came to the New World with his parents and already possessed a fair education. Quick to learn he soon conquered the idioms of the English language. He assumed the management of his father's affairs, transacting the business of whatever nature in his own name.

     In those early days the family were hampered for means and had to practice the utmost economy to get along. The country was new and there was very little money current, nearly all business being trade. Young Hyne was a youth of indomitable pluck and energy, but had hardly gotten started on the road of success, when he was arrested in his career by a sunstroke, which so prostrated him that for several years he was under the care of a physician, during the most of which time he was unable to do hard work, although he was not idle. A follower of the goddess Diana, he spent much time in hunting, and kept his family supplied with the most delicate venison, and bear meat. He also became a skillful trapper and secured a large amount of fur, for which he found a ready market at remunerative prices. During the summer he carried on farming, doing his trapping in the winter season.

     That was a day when nearly every one owned his own land, and our subject was not behind the others in this. He purchased land, cleared it and added more, but never went into debt beyond his means. He was united in marriage in August, 1847, to Miss Henne L. Westphal, a native of the Fatherland, who came to the United States with her parents about 1844. This resulted in the birth of eight children whose names are as follows: William, Frederick, Harriet, Celia, Franklin, Louisa, Amelia and Anna. William married and is a prosperous farmer in this township. Frederick is at the head of a home of his own and manages an extensive business of his own. Harriet is the wife of C. H. Francis, Esq. a prominent attorney in Bay City. Celia is the wife of James McNamara, a farmer in Genoa Township. Franklin has a home of his own and lives on a farm in Brighton Township. Louisa is the wife of John Carter, a (701) farmer in Marion Township. Amelia and Anna are at home.

     Politically, the original of our sketch has always been a Democrat, and while he has been prominent and influential in the councils of his party, he has never had time to properly attend to the duties of public office and has never been prevailed upon to accept one. He has been a Mason for thirty years and an active member of the Blue Lodge, Chapter and Commandery. As a farmer he has been remarkably successful. He has cleared and highly improved a large tract of land. He owned a magnificent farm of fourteen hundred acres in Brighton Township, in one body but divided it among his children. He has also owned at various times several farms in other localities. As a stock-raiser he has endeavored to excel, always breeding only the best.

     About the time the Detroit, Lansing & Northern railroad was built through Brighton, the firm of C. T. Hyne & Son built a large elevator and until a year or so past, bought and shipped a vast amount of grain, wool etc. The gentleman of whom we write has recently retired from the active management of his affairs, and with his family has moved to the beautiful little city of Brighton, having given the care of almost all of his property into the hands of his sons. Now that he has arrived at an age when he can with complacency look back upon his career, and realizes the obstacles that he has had to surmount in order to attain his present position, it is evident that he is eminently a self made man and in every respect the architect of his own fortunes. He began life without means and early assumed cares too heavy for young shoulders. He has undergone some very severe trials especially in his pioneer days, but on the outset of his career, he came to the determination to succeed in spite of everything, and he has not been disappointed. Whatever he has undertaken he has accomplished and has never known the meaning of the word "to fail". A man of remarkable foresight and excellent judgment, his progress during the early part of his life was slow but sure.

     The rule in his business has been to go as far as his means would permit, but no farther. It has moreover, been a marked trait to his character, that he carefully balanced every subject, and arrived at a logical conclusion before undertaking any enterprise. In his dealings with his fellow-men he has been upright and honorable, and has ever done unto others as he would wish to be done by. In 1878 he visited his mother country, and although the ties of consanguinity are strong, his pride and loyalty is in his adopted land. He is proud of the fact that he is an American citizen. Our subject's wife and daughters are members of the Evangelical Church.

     LEWIS KETCHUM.  This respected citizen of Cohoctah Township, Livingston County, was born December 18, 1830, in Hanover, Germany, and is the only one of two sons and one daughter who came to the United States. He received a good German education, and after coming to this country in the fall of 1849 attended the public schools of Livingston County. In August of that year he had left Germany for the New World, and he landed in New York City in the latter part of September, coming directly to Michigan, and settling in the township of Brighton, Livingston County. His fortune in hand was about $35, and he soon set to work to place himself in an independent position.

     After working for about four years for neighboring farmers, he took up the trade of a carpenter, which he followed until 1882. In 1865 he had bought eighty acres of land on section 18, Cohoctah Township, and the following year he moved onto this farm and entered upon the work of felling the trees, clearing the land of stumps, and cultivating and improving the farm. Upon it he placed handsome farm buildings, which are an ornament to the township.

     Mr. Ketchum was married February 3, 1857, to Mary Hyne, who was born in Prussia, in the city of Erpel, February 3, 1839. Her parents, (702) Godfrid and Elinor (Hafland) Hyne, came to the United States and settled in the township of Brighton, this county. The father died in 1842, leaving one child, and his widow somewhat later married F. G. Crosman, by whom she has two children. They are connected with the Lutheran Church. The five children of Mr. and Mrs. Ketchum are Helen, wife of John Hendricks, Adolph C., Herman G., Edgar F. and Fred L. Mrs. Ketchum is an earnest and devoted member of the Evangelical Church.

      CHARLES J. HODGE, is a farmer residing on section 12, Hartland Township, Livingston County. He is a native of this State, having been born in Southfield Township, Oakland County, August 9, 1837. Our subject's father was Jonathan O. Hodge, a native of Connecticut, who was reared in Vermont, going there with his parents at the tender age of three years. He came to Michigan in 1834, and located in Southfield Township, Oakland County, where he took up land from the Government, clearing the place in that desolate way which was necessary to early settlers, chopping down the timber, and leaving a forest of charred and blackened stumps in the cleared spaces, that when not draped and covered with the vines and flowers of summer, presented a forlorn and dreary aspect. He built thereon a little log house and lived there for a time, finally moving to Tyrone Township, Livingston County, where for ten years he worked the farm on shares, finally buying the place where he now resides.

     Our subject's present home bore no improvements whatever upon his advent hither. For years he bent his efforts to clearing and cultivating the land and remained there as Iong as he lived, passing away at the age of sixty-one years. Jonathan Hodge was a Republican. Our subject's mother was before her marriage a Miss Betsy Fall, a native of Ohio who came to Michigan with her parents in 1825. Her father was John Fall, a native of Massachusetts. He was one of the early settlers in Oakland County, where he spent the remainder of his life. Our subject's mother lived to be fifty-six years of age. She and her husband were the parents of four children, one daughter and three sons. He of whom we write is the first son and only surviving one. His sister Lydia, who is the wife of Mr. Seaver, resides in Highland Township, Oakland County.

     The original of our sketch was eight years of age when he came to Livingston County with his parents. His first school days were spent in Southfield Township, Oakland County, and he finished his education after coming to Hartland Township, Livingston County. He remained with his parents until their decease and married January 1, 1862, in Oakland County, a lady whose maiden name was Chloe Cole, a native of the place where she was married, having been born in Highland Township, November 13, 1839. She was one of twins. Her parents, Orin and Tamar (Firman) Cole, came to Michigan in 1834, and located in Oakland County, where the father still resides. The mother died at about eighty-two years of age in 1883.

     Mr. Hodge has lived on the place which he now occupies, ever since his father first located here. He has a farm of two hundred acres the greater part of which is improved, one hundred and seventy-two acres being under cultivation. They have a good, comfortable home and a beautiful place that shows the cultivation of years. There are fine fruit trees and choice shade trees that give the farm an attractive and pleasant aspect. Our subject has two fine barns. The first one was built in 1862 at a cost of $450. It is 34x60 feet in dimensions. The second barn he built in 1886, at a cost of $900. It is 34x64 feet in dimension. He keeps a good grade of stock, making a specialty of dealing in sheep, having some particularly fine grades. He of whom we write votes the straight Republican ticket, but feels that his duty is done when his vote is cast for the man he thinks most (703) fitting for the office in question. He has no ambition to be an office holder himself. Socially he belongs to Fenton Lodge No. 109, of the Masonic fraternity.

     WILLIAM PEARSON. It is undoubtedly a great satisfaction to a man who has reached years of maturity to look back over a life spent in struggles to do well for his family and his fellow-men, to feel that those efforts have been recognized by friends and children, and to have the assurance that he has made the most of life and that the world is better for his having lived in it.

     Our subject was born April 3, 1839, in Durham County, England, where his father, William, and his mother, Sarah Ann (Blackburn) Pearson, were also born. The grandfather, Robert Pearson, had a large family of children, eight in all, namely: William, George, Richard, Robert, John, Mary, Betsey and Elizabeth. They were all born in England, but came to Michigan and settled in Milford Township, Oakland County, where the father was the second pioneer. He was a man of means and entered over one thousand acres of land, giving to each of his children a farm of eighty acres with a yoke of cattle, or one hundred and twenty acres without.

     The grandfather of our subject was a local minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church and probably preached more funeral sermons in that vicinity than any other minister of that day. He lived to the advanced age of eighty-three years. His first wife died in Milford Township and he there married his second companion.

     William Pearson, Sr., came from the mother country in 1845, consuming some nine weeks in the ocean passage from Liverpool to Quebec. From that city he came directly to Detroit and then teamed it to Milford, where he settled on eighty acres and there resided until his death, at the age of eighty-seven, in November, 1888. He had a family of six children, one of whom died at Detroit while on the journey, and the family completed their mournful journey to the new home, bringing with them the dear form of the departed child that they might bury it at Milford. The surviving children are Robert, George, William, Joshua and Mary.

     Before the death of the father he had accumulated a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and he was a man of value, not only in a financial way, but as a citizen, and as a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he was very active, serving as a Steward through all of his manhood years. His faithful wife departed this life in the fall of 1865.

     Our subject came to the United States with his parents, and coming up the St. Lawrence River he fell overboard and came near ending his career by drowning, but was rescued by an Indian sailor, with whom he exchanged locks of hair and whom he keeps in grateful memory. He received a good common school education, and at twenty-one began for himself, working for neighboring farmers by the month until the spring of 1860, when he started out with two neighbor boys for California, traveling by way of New York City and Panama. In the land of the sunset he worked as a farmer for one year for $360. The second year he received $450 and the third Year $550. By strict economy he managed to get along with very little of his wages, drawing only enough to clothe himself, and then put his money into renting his employer's farm, upon which he thus worked during the fourth year. As his crops failed he lost all that he had saved, but during the fifth year he took the farm on shares and being now successful made $2,500, with which in currency, he returned to the East.

     In the spring of 1865 the young man returned to Milford and bought eighty acres of land on section 24, Tyrone Township, Livingston County, which was mostly timber land. He set to work to fell the trees, clear out the stumps and raise crops, in all of which he was eminently successful. He now owns one hundred and ninety acres on sections 24 and 25, and all of it is in a well improved condition. The beautiful home of Mr. Pearson (704) was for years presided over by a lady who was formerly known as Miss Rhoda Algeo, daughter of Lewis and Ann Algeo. She became the wife of our subject October 16, 1867, and to her were granted three bright and interesting children, Lewis, Mittie and Sarah. Mittie died at the age of five years and the mother passed from earth in November, 1888, and will long be remembered a a woman of earnest Christian character and an active member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In this same religious body Mr. Pearson has been an active worker for twenty years, and in politics he is an earnest and stanch Republican. His second marriage took place in October, 1889, and he was then united with Isabel, daughter of John and Mary Holliday, whose many earnest and lovely qualities of heart and mind are highly appreciated by those who know her.

     JOHN T. CARMER. The name of him of whom we write belongs to a good old Holland family that transferred its loyalty to the adopted country in early days some of the representatives of the family having fought in the war in which America gained her independence. Our subject is the son of Daniel and Bethiah (Turner) Carmer. The paternal grandsire Abraham Carmer, came from Holland and settled
in New Jersey as a farmer. He died in New York having been a Revolutionary soldier.