ELLIOTT O. BELLOWS
Sheriff from1901-1904
Elliott O. Bellows was born in McKean County, Pennsylvania, on April 8, 1853, to William and Jane Manning Bellows. During his youth he moved with his parents from McKean to Smithport, PA to Tioga County, New York and, in 1864, to Carroll County, Illinois. In July of 1871 Elliott's parents moved to Kansas. Elliott remained in Carroll County working as a thresher until about October of that year when he came to Michigan and settled in Montcalm County working as a lumberman that winter. In the spring of 1872 he took up duties as a salesman in a store at Langston. He again returned to lumbering the winter of 1875 and by 1876 he purchased eighty acres of land which he farmed alternately with his duties as a lumberman until January of 1879. He then sold his farm and moved to Kansas and purchased a farm there. Two years later he again settled in Montcalm County, purchasing a 40 acre farm in Montcalm Township. In 1882 he entered into the mercantile business partnering with Fred D. Briggs. That lasted only until 1884 when he disposed of his interest and moved to Canada where he was employed as a construction foreman for the Canadian Pacific Railway Company. After four months he returned to Montcalm County purchasing land in Ferris Township. In the spring of 1887 he opened a general store at Six Lakes. That store burned in 1890 and, after rebuilding, he sold the business to his brother and returned to his farm in Ferris Township. While living there he served as supervisor for six years. In 1901 he was elected sheriff of Montcalm County and served two terms. He represented the second ward in Stanton on the board of supervisors for many years and in 1906 was appointed to the office of postmaster for Stanton. He was reappointed in 1910 and remained in that position until April of 1914. In 1911 he purchased a farm in Sidney Township where he worked as a farmer and raiser of purebred Guernsey cattle. Elliott was a member of the Congregation Church, Stanton Star Lodge F. & A.M., Crescent Chapter O.E.S. and the Maccabees. He married Bertha Mary Johnson September 1, 1875. They were the parents of two children, Lily M. and Fred E. Bertha died in 1883 and in 1884 he married Mary A. Peal. He and Mary were parents to Severens E. and Inez (wife of Arthur Strouse). After his second wife's death he married Mrs. Evangeline Baird Shauman. Elliott died in Stanton on January 15, 1940 and is buried at Forest Hill Cemetery, Stanton.
(Sources: History of Montcalm County, Michigan by John W. Dasef; Obituary - Stanton Clipper-Herald, Friday, January 19, 1940; Montcalm County marriage records) |
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