ANTHONY JASPER Anthony Jasper. The gentleman whose name heads this sketch and who is now successfully engaged in that calling which has received the attention of man since the world began-farming- comes of sturdy, thrifty and honest German stock, and he himself was born in the Old Country, at Barton, on the 29th of March, 1833, his parents being Michael and Theresa Jasper, industrious people and fairly well-to-do in worldly goods. In 1846 the parents decided to come to America, and braving the then long and toilsome, as well as dangerous, ocean voyage with their sons, landed at New York City in due time, but only remained there a very short time, rightly judging that the West offered them better inducements than the already populous Eastern States. They took up their residence in Wisconsin, but lived to enjoy their new home only a short time, leaving three sons, from thirteen to twenty years of age, to earn their living as best they could among strangers and in a strange land. Of these sons, Frank, the second-born, went to Colorado in 1849, and was living there when last heard from; Frederick resided in Wisconsin for three years after the death of his father, and then went West and was never afterwards heard from; and Anthony is the immediate subject of this memoir. Two years after the death of his father, Anthony made his way Southward, and in 1846 found himself in Ottawa County, Mich., with $18 in his pocket, a total stranger to all within its borders. He, however, possessed the dogged perseverance and energy for which the German people have always been noted, and was not at all discouraged by the fact that his capital was small, his knowledge of the country and its people was limited, and that he was without employment and a mere boy – only fifteen years of age. He soon succeeded in obtaining employment in the logging camps at $13 per month, and although the work was very laborious, it brought him a living, and he continued to follow it for one year. He then began making shingles on shares at $2 per thousand, and being quick and energetic he succeeded in accumulating quite a goodly sum of money, which he put aside for a "rainy day." Later he received for his work $2.50 per thousand. During the most of his time he was very much troubled with chills and fever, but he kept manfully at his work, and in time overcame this drawback to early civilization. In 1858, he purchased with money earned by his own unceasing efforts the farm on which he is now living, which then amounted to eighty acres of heavily-timbered land. The timber he felled and logged to the river, where he peeled the most of it, selling the bark from $2 to $5.50 per cord, and using the timber to make his barns, out-houses and residence, which was a two story structure containing ten rooms, a fine residence for those days. He has since increased his farm to one hundred and twenty acres, eighty acres of which are under a fine state of cultivation, and show a thrift, neatness and pleasing appearance generally that show at once what manner of man is the owner. Mr. Jasper has been married twice, first in 1858 to Charlotte Boosenbork, of Waterloo County N.Y., to which union three children were given: Frank, Alice and Walter, the later being deceased. Mrs. Jasper died in 1865, a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and the following year Mr. Jasper married Mrs. Phoebe Smith, nee Durham, of Seneca County, N.Y., a daughter of William Durham, and this union has resulted in the birth of five children: Charles, Carrie, Warren, Fannie and May. Mrs. Jasper is a member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church. Mr. Jasper is a stockholder in the creamery at Allendale Center, which is the largest one in the county. The German way of spelling his name was Jarsper, but upon becoming a citizen of the United States he began spelling it the English way and has so continued ever since.

Portrait & Biographical Record of Muskegon & Ottawa Counties, Michigan 1893, Chicago: Biographical Publishing Company

Transcriber: Charles Armstrong
Created: 6 May 2003
URL: Return to Bios Index