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BATTLE CREEK BY A. D. P. VAN BUREN
Some men's lives read' well, taking them, chapter after chapter, in their unwritten acts; there is enough of stirring event to break a monotony and render them interesting. Then there are others who by their living by the side of a neighbor, born on a sixty-nine mile level, have a contrast that shows every ripple on the surface of their own lives. Uncle Bees did not need such a contrast to bring out the incidents in his life. He would have made his mark in any community, because industry and thrift will always push ahead and make a good record anywhere*. At mention of the name—Uncle Rees— what thoughts, freighted with reminiscences of other days, arise! One thinks of an energetic pioneer, in the busy scenes of 1836, in Calhoun
county; of an incorrigible old whig—the straightest of this sect brought up at the feet of its Gamaliel of Ashland; of a staunch Universalist; of a "cheery neighbor and townsman; of a snug and thrifty farmer who has reared a large family of boys and girls who have done much toward the improvement of the township of Battle Creek.
Andrew Rees located on his lands a few miles west of Battle Creek sometime in 1836, as I am informed. A man who converts a portion of the wilderness into a good farm has performed a useful deed. He, has established one of the surest, best and most reliable sources of wealth for the country. And that man is the best farmer whose culture brings out, in the crop, all the farm can produce.
Michigan
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