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Below is a family biography included in Portrait and Biographical Record of Berrien and Cass Counties, Michigan published by Biographical Publishing Company in 1893.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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JOHN D. SCRIMGER, who is engaged in a real-estate, loan and insurance business in Benton Harbor, and who is passenger ticket agent for trans-Atlantic steamship lines and trunk line railroads, is a man of the highest business capacity and honored in ail circles of society. During the many years he has been in the insurance business he has encountered all classes of objectors, although, of course, having to do with business men chiefly, he has fewer objections to meet than those who operate outside the business centers. However, he is so thoroughly posted on all matters relating to insurance, and converses so convincingly, that it would be difficult to meet a better informed man, and just as difficult to find a caviler he could not persuade of his error.

As Mr. Scrimger has for many years been a resident of the city, his knowledge of realty is intimate. His opinion as touching any given piece of property, improved or unimproved, would be accepted as about infallible, so carefully has he studied the whole field, which he has followed for many years. His methods are honorable and upright, and parties can rest assured that they will be treated fairly by him, whether they wish to buy or rent, to loan or to borrow money. His standing in the community is deservedly high, his uprightness and fair dealing are proverbial, and his treatment of all men is just and equitable.

Mr. Scrimger was born April 2, 1847, in England, and is a son of William J. and Caroline (Slade) Scrimger. The parents emigrated to America about 1850, and the father engaged as an agriculturist, but was also engaged as a contractor in a lumber and shingle mill. Our subject kept books for his father, but when twenty-one years of age he embarked in the insurance business at Breedsville, Van Buren County, and continued there until 1874. From there he went to Grand Junction, the same county, continuing his former business, and from there went to Pine Grove Mills, where he continued twenty months. Following this he made a trip through the Western States, looking around, and then returned to his home in Grand Junction.

In the year 1888 Mr. Scrimger located in Benton Harbor and opened an office. Here he has since remained, and has proved himself a successful business man. He selected his wife in the person of Miss Sarah F. Baldwin, a native of Unadilla, Chenango County, N. Y., but who became a resident with her parents of Van Buren County, Mich., when a child. Their nuptials were celebrated July 26, 1874. Two children have blessed this union; Louise L., a student in Benton Harbor College, and Evelyn. Mrs. Scrimger is a daughter of Norman R. Baldwin, a prominent man of Van Buren County. Mr. Scrimger is a member of Lake Shore Lodge No. 298, A. F. & A. M.; also a member of the United Order of the Golden Cross, and takes a deep interest in the welfare of his order. His home is pleasantly situated at No. 125 Maple Street, Benton Harbor, where the family dispense a generous hospitality to their friends. Mr. Scrirnger is a member of the First Congregational Church, while his wife and daughter are members of the Baptist Church. Politically, he is a stanch Republican.

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This family biography is one of numerous biographies included in the Portrait and Biographical Record of Berrien and Cass Counties, Michigan published in 1893. 

View additional Berrien County, Michigan family biographies here: Berrien County, Michigan Biographies

View a map of 1911 Berrien County, Michigan here: Berrien County Michigan Map

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