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Polly. He was also a miller by occupation. Isaac, the youngest son, was the father of Mr. Winegar, of this sketch. The latter was reared to agricultural pursuits and at 22 engaged in harness-making, taking it up from choice, without previous instruction in its details; afterward worked at it as a journeyman, was acknowledged to be a superior workman. His shop was at Crane's Corners. Afterward he began to work as a carpenter independent of an apprenticeship, and has followed it since 1845. He did a great amount of work on his own residence, and planned and built his barn, a structure 32 by 44 feet and 16 feet from sill to plate. Mr. Winegar was married in Litchfield, Herkimer Co., N. Y., Dec. 31, 1840, to Sarah F., daughter of Alden and Susannah W. (Gess) Whitcomb, born in Litchfield, Feb. 18, 1826. Of five children born to them, two are living-Isaac M., born in Litchfield, Apr. 11, 1842 and Édith M., born in Byron, Sept. 8, 1866. Mr. Winegar came to Michigan in the fall of 1845 and bought 80 acres of land, perfectly wild, with no traces of civilization. He now owns 100 acres on sec. 28 and 53 on sec. 29, with 80 acres 'under improvement, the result of his own labor. He also owns two lots and a residence on Main street, at Byron Center. Mr. Winegar received a limited education and set out in the world without aid; has earned for himself a comfortable independence and a name that will pass to his posterity as that of a man without reproach. He was a Lieut. in the 27th Reg. N. Y. State Inf., commissioned in 1844. He is and has been for a number of years Justice of the Peace, and is connected with the Odd Fellows Encampment at Salem Center. Mr. Winegar's portrait appears on another page.

Philander B. Wright, M.D., eldest son of Philander and Mary W. (Brackett) Wright, was born in Milwaukee, Wis., June 7, 1841. His father was born in Northampton, Mass., Jan. 7, 1805, of English and French ancestry. His mother was born in Lancaster, N. H., March 16, 1804, of English and Welsh parentage. In the 17th century three brothers by the name of Brockett came to America, and wishing to establish new names and histories with the new country, the eldest retained that of Brockett, the second took the name Brickett, and the third called himself Brackett. The family, of which they were members, had received orders of knighthood, and Dr. Wright has a copy of the original coat of arms. Dr. Wright was a student at various places in Wisconsin, and had been engaged in the study of medicine a year, when he enlisted in Grant Co., Wis., in Co. C, color Co., 2d Wis. Vol. Inf. (Capt. McKee) and served three and one quarter years. His company was part of the Iron Brigade. He served in the Army of the Potomac, was at the first battle of Bull Run, and in all the engagements between that and Gettysburg, except Antietam. He was wounded at first Bull Run in the ankle, at second Bull Run in the knee, and at Gettysburg in both arms, right leg, left hip, right side and on the top of the head. He enlisted as a private, and when wounded, was Color Sergeant, and before his discharge at

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Baltimore, Md., was promoted to 1st Sergeant. On his return to Milwaukee he resumed the study of medicine, alternating his studies with teaching. He entered the Eclectic Medical Institute at Cincinnati, O., where he graduated Feb. 11, 1868, and commenced practice in Corinth the following spring. He has 40 acres of good land with 25 under tillage and a handsome residence; also owns two lots corner Sycamore and Lafayette streets, Grand Rapids. He owns 80 acres respectively in Dorr and Leighton, Allegan county. His wife, Victoria A., daughter of Nicholas and Sarah Peck, was born in Bedford Co., Pa., July 24, 1839. They were married in Kenosha, Wis., March 4, 1868, and have six children-Lillian B., Paul É., Lawrence O., Max G., John M. and Harry P. The Dr. has been Health Officer three or four years and is a member of the Masonic fraternity.

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CALEDONIA TOWNSHIP

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Caledonia, or township 5 north, range 10 west, is watered by the Thornapple. Owing to the rapid drainage of this portion of the Peninsula, the waters literally tore through the land, ultimately settled in deep channels, leaving the prairie of former times marked by deep ravines. The land east of the Thornapple is what is known as "oak openings, "oak openings," possessing a sandy loam and very productive. West from the river, and some distance from its channel, the township is comparatively level, clothed in a few places with valuable timber tracts. The township is one of the best wheat districts of the county.

Thornapple river flows through the center of the township from south to north, and is here a very rapid stream, shut in frequently by high hills or bluffs, that reach almost to the water's edge, leaving no bottom lands. For some distance on either side of the river the surface is much broken, and indeed a large portion of the surface of the town is quite rolling. There are some eight or ten small lakes in the town; the largest, lying about one and a half miles east of the village of Alaska, is about one mile in length, and one-quarter to one-half mile in width, and well stocked with a variety of fish. Emmons lake, near Caledonia Station, is a small, picturesque sheet of water. On the east side of the river oak openings prevail and the soil is sandy, and in many places full of. gravel, but seemingly quite fertile. West of the river a heavier or more clayey soil prevails. There are several tamarack swamps nestled among the hills. Agricultural pursuits meet with as good returns in this town,'perhaps, as any where in the county. A large portion, particularly of the west half of the town, was heavily timbered.

The G. R. Valley railroad crosses the southwest corner of the town. A small village is there, which has made a beginning in the way of using the power at its disposal.

On the farm of Edward Campau is a noted beaver-dam, which once made a pond, of several acres. The dam is in two parts, one 80 and the other 60 yards in length. Its height was apparently three feet or more. By the rotting of the material, and the trampling of cattle, it is now a simple ridge of earth, a foot or more in height. It is built on a spring marsh. Near the middle of the dam is a kind of island of solid earth. Taking the height of the dam on that, and where at the ends it is on solid earth, the general height must have been three feet.

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