WILLIAM M. UHL

WILLIAM M. UHL, is one of the substantial farmers of Chester Township, and has won independence and success through his own efforts, having been dependent upon his own resources from an early age. He was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, October 17, 1842, and is a son of Peter and Rebecca (Moore) Uhl. Peter Uhl was a native of Germany, whence he immigrated to America when a young man, passing two years in Pennsylvania and thence removing to Ohio, where his marriage occurred. He owned a farm of fifty-two acres, in Trumbull County, that state, having reclaimed the land from the forest, and he continued resident of Ohio until about fifty years ago, when he removed to Eaton County, Michigan, and purchased one hundred and twenty acres of timbered land, in Chester Township. He built a log house on the place and in due time improved the farm, which continued to be his home until his death. His wife also died on that homestead, having been born in Trumbull County, Ohio. They became the parents of twelve children, of whom only four are living. William Uhl was a boy at the time of his parents' removal to Eaton County, and such were the exigencies of the case that he very early had to go to work, to aid in support of the family, his educational advantages therefore being very limited. He remained with his parents until he had reached his legal majority, when he went to work by the month, having passed several winters in the pine woods of northern Michigan, as a lumberman, and devoting his attention to farm work during the intervening summers. He was finally able to purchase forty acres of wild land, in Eaton County, clearing the same, having erected a log barn on the place and continuing to reside in the parental home in the meanwhile. He also rented land, farming the same in connection with the work of his own farm. At the age of twenty-seven years he sold this property and purchased his present homestead, of 140 acres, in section 17, Chester township. A portion of the tract had been cleared and the remainder has been reclaimed by him, while he built a frame house and barn on the farm soon after assuming possession. In 1902 he erected his present commodious farm residence, which is one of the best in this locality. In 1876 Mr. Uhl was united in marriage to Miss Eunice Beeman, who was born in Hillsdale County, Michigan, April 4, 1853, a daughter of Daniel and Amanda (Chaffee) Beeman, the former of whom was born in Vermont and the latter in Connecticut. Mr. Beeman came to Michigan when twenty-one years of age and settled in Hillsdale County, where he passed the remainder of his life, his wife also dying in that county. to Mr. and Mrs. Uhl have been born seven children, all of whom are living; Dora is the wife of Daniel Manly, of Lansing, and the other children remain at the parental home, --Ola, Elmer, Orvin, Cora, wife of Harvey O. Dowd; Ida died June 27, 1906; and Charles. The children were given the advantages of the public schools and the family is popular in the social life of the community. Mr. Uhl is a stanch Democrat in his political proclivities and has been urged to become a candidate for public office in his township, but he has felt that his educational limitations did not justify him in accepting nomination, though those who know him best would put emphatic protest against this statement, for he is a man of alert mentality and good judgment, having profited largely from the lessons gained in the broad school of experience. His life has been one of constant application to toil, and he fully appreciates the changes since the pioneer days in the county. He recalls chopping wood by lantern light and burning brush and logs in the woods or openings until after midnight, in order to hasten the development of the farms. In his younger days he frequently chopped a cord of wood in two hours. He is unpretentious, straight-forward and sincere in all the relations of life and has the high regard of his neighbors and all others that know him.