Genesee County MI Archives Biographies.....Van Vleet, James 1819 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/mi/mifiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 24, 2008, 5:02 pm Author: Chapman Bros. (1892) HON. JAMES VAN VLEET. Romulus, Seneca County, N. Y., is the native home of this prominent gentleman and he was born July 28, 1819; but he calls himself a thorough Wolverine as he came hither and settled in Gaines Township, Genesee County in 1844. His father, Jared Van Vleet, was born in New Brunswick County, N. J., and was of Dutch descent. He served in the War of 1812 and at the age of seventy-six years died in Romulus. The mother, Dolly (Swarthout) Van Vleet, was born in Seneca County, N. Y., of German ancestry and died in her native State. Her ten children grew to maturity and five still survive. Our subject remained upon the farm attending the district school and working with his father until he reached the age of majority. In 1841 he was there married to Miss Mary A. Cooley, of Orange County, and after spending two years upon a farm near Romulus they came West in July, 1844, and bought unbroken woodland in Gaines Township, Genesee County. They soon put up a log house 18x26 feet and for months lived without doors, windows or floors. When Mr. Van Vleet established himself with his wife and child in his new home he had seventy-five cents with which to buy provisions. Hard work and small returns was the order of the day but the family managed to live. To crown their misfortunes the wife was taken sick in the fall and as there was no one to care for her the husband cut a road two miles through the woods to the nearest neighbors, placed her upon a bed in a sleigh and carried her to these hospitable friends to be cared for. With them she remained through the winter, keeping up meanwhile a brave heart and never saying she was homesick to return to the East. During the pioneer days Mr. Van Vleet was for many years Supervisor and served also as Clerk. In 1864 he was elected on the Republican ticket to the State Legislature, to which he was re-elected two years later. In the fall of 1868 he received his election as County Treasurer which induced him to remove to Flint and to put his farm in the hands of a tenant during the two terms that he served in that capacity and also while he was Deputy Treasurer for four years. At the expiration of that time he was made Supervisor of the Third Ward of the city of Flint and was thus nine years in succession in an official position in this city, since which time he has dropped out of politics. No man in the county has served as long as he in the office of Supervisor and no one has held the office of Treasurer for a longer period. While in the Legislature he was Chairman of the Committee on Railroads. Since leaving public office he has drifted into the insurance business and has done a great deal in the line of settling estates, and in conveyancing and also places loans for Eastern parties. The fine property of Mr. Van Vleet does not lie altogether in the city, but also includes a farm of one hundred and eighty acres in Gaines Township which is occupied by his son, besides pine lands in Missouri which will be developed as soon as the railroad passes through that part of the State. He is a stockholder in the Commercial Savings Bank and was Director of the Citizens' National Bank from the time of its organization until it re-organized twenty years later. His four children are: Albert B., who lives on the old homestead; Jared, a pension attorney and real-estate agent at Flint; John C., who is a graduate of the University of Michigan with the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws; and Ann E. wife of William H. Fairchild, of Swartz Creek. During the war Mr. Van Vleet acted as enrolling officer and had charge of the widows and orphans. He is a Free and Accepted Mason and a member of the County Pioneer Society. His politics are of the true-blue Republican stripe and he is often a delegate to county and State conventions. A lithographic portrait of Mr. Van Vleet accompanies this sketch. Additional Comments: Extracted from: Portrait and Biographical Record of Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola Counties, Michigan, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, Together with Biographies of all the Governors of the State, and of the Presidents of the United States Chicago: Chapman Bros. 1892 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/genesee/bios/vanvleet1054gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mifiles/ File size: 4.8 Kb