JONATHAN DEAN

JONATHAN DEAN, one of the honored pioneer citizens of Eaton County, which has represented his home from his boyhood days to the present, was born in the province of Ontario, Canada, about twenty miles northeast of the city of Toronto, September 29, 1830, being a son of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Monroe) Dean, the former of whom was descended from stanch Puritan stock, having been born at Newburg, Orange County, New York, on the Hudson river, while the latter was born on the St. Lawrence river, Canada. Jonathan Dean Sr., was a soldier in the war of 1812, and his father, David Dean, rendered yeoman service as a soldier in the continental line during the war of the Revolution, having been with Washington at Valley Forge and having endured his share of the hardships and vicissitudes with which that historic name is so closely associated. Jonathan Dean, Sr., came to Michigan in 1837, the year in which the state was admitted to the Union. He crossed the Detroit river on the 3d of July, and passed the following day, the anniversary of American independence in Detroit, which was then a small city. From that point he came to Eaton County and located in section 10, Kalamo township, where he secured one hundred and sixty acres of government land, which in due time he reclaimed from the wilderness. The family passed the first summer in Plymouth, Wayne County, and in the autumn the three elder sons drove through to the pioneer farm in Kalamo Township, bringing ten head of cattle and two hogs. They made the trip by way of Marshall and Bellevue and the first night pitched their tent on Pestle hill. They then went to the home of Louis Stebbins, at Carlisle, where they boarded during the period, which they devoted to building the primitive log house on the farm. The other members of the family came to the new home in December, arriving at the little forest lodge on Christmas day. Jonathan Dean, Sr., and his wife here passed the remainder of their lives, honored by all who knew them. The former attained to the patriarchal age of ninety-five years. For forty years he was a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his wife also was a devoted adherent. Jonathan Dean, Jr., still owns eighty acres of the old homestead, having been a lad of seven years when the family here took up their residence. Mrs. Jonathan Dean, Sr., was a descendant of Colonel Monroe, who was a distinguished British officer in the war of the Revolution. She died July 24, 1879. The father of the subject of this sketch was a clothier, cloth-dresser and dyer, following these lines of enterprise for forty years before coming to Michigan. He owned and operated a factory near Newcastle, Canada, but after taking up his residence in Eaton County he gave his entire attention to the improving and cultivating of his farm. The family circle was unbroken by the hand of death until forty years after the deans became residents of this county. There were four sons and one daughter, all of whom are now deceased except the subject of this review, who was the youngest. Mary, who became the wife of Timothy Boyer, died in this county, as did also the brothers, William B., Silas M. and Allen W. All attended school in Canada except Jonathan, Jr., who secured his education training in the district schools of Eaton, Wayne and Washtenaw counties. He was reared on the homestead farm and his vocation in life has been that of an agriculturist. His present fine homestead farm, in Kalamo Township, comprises one hundred and twenty acres. During the administration of President Cleveland he was appointed vice-consul of the United States in the city of Naples, Italy, where he remained three and one-half years. Save for this period he has lived practically retired in the city of Charlotte, since 1884. Here he has an attractive home, while he passed the summer seasons in Petoskey, on Little Traverse bay, where he had a nice cottage. In politics Mr. Dean has ever accorded an unwavering allegiance to the Democratic Party, and he has served as justice of the peace, while he was elected school director in Kalamo Township when but twenty-one years of age. He identified himself with the Masonic fraternity and the Independent Order of Good Templars a number of years ago, but is not in active affiliation with either at the present time. In 1852 Mr. Dean was united in marriage to Miss Diantha Allen, daughter of Amos Allen, who came from the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts to the west, locating in the state of Ohio, whence he came to Eaton County and settled in Chester Township a number of years prior to the war of the Rebellion. Mr. and Mrs. Dean have three children: Hon. Frank A., who is a leading member of the Eaton County bar, being engaged in the practice of his profession in Charlotte, and who was United States consul in Naples, Italy, under President Cleveland; Florence, who is the wife of Harry Hooker, of Lansing; and Frederika, who is the wife of Charles Sattler, of Charlotte.