My Genealogy Hound

JOHN H. STOVER. The agricultural part of any community is the bone and sinew from which come the strength and vigor necessary to carry on the affairs of manufacture, commerce and the State. When the farming people are composed of men and women of courage, enterprise, intelligence and integrity, prosperity will attend all departments of activity, and this is pre-eminently the case in Berrien County, Mich.; and among those who hold high rank as a tiller of the soil is Mr. Stover, who springs from a good old family of Pennsylvania. He was born in Centre County, Pa., May 30, 1840, and is a son of Samuel and Catherine (Warntz) Stover, both of whom were natives of that State also.

Samuel Stover was a shoemaker by trade and followed the same in his native State until his death, when seventy-three years of age. To his marriage were born seven children, two sons and five daughters. John H. Stover, the eldest of the children, was reared in his native State and there received his education in the common schools. On the 5th of October, 1862, he was married in Pennsylvania to Miss Sarah C. Plotner, who was also a native of the Keystone State and the daughter of Samuel and Sarah Plotner. Mr. and Mrs. Plotner removed to Cass County, Mich., near Edwardsburgh, in 1870, and there they now reside.

Our subject and family made their home in Pennsylvania until 1870, when they removed to Michigan and located in Cass County. There they resided for eight years and then removed to near their present location, where they made their home until 1890, when Mr. Stover bought his present property. This is located ten miles southeast of St. Joseph and contains over one hundred and fifty-one acres. All his farming operations are conducted in a manner reflecting credit upon himself and his management. The farm is in a high state of cultivation, the improvements are all good, and Mr. Stover ranks among the representative agriculturists of the county.

Ten children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Stover, seven sons and three daughters, as follows: Samuel, William, Edward, Eugene, George, Ray, Clarence; Virgia, wife of Ameal Metsger; Cora, wife of Albert Metsger; and Edith, at home. In 1881 our subject was elected Township Treasurer, and after serving in that capacity for two years was elected Township Supervisor, which position he filled in a very satisfactory manner for five consecutive terms. He has been a member of the Board of Review here, and was on the School Board in Cass County while residing there. In 1893 he was elected Justice of the Peace, and now settles the petty difficulties of his township in a manner reflecting credit upon himself and to the evident satisfaction of the people. He was elected Drain Commissioner one year, but did not qualify. Public-spirited and enterprising, Mr. Stover is one of the representative men of the county.

Mr. Stover has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows during almost his entire residence in Michigan, and he is also a member of the Grange and Encampment. He represented his lodge in the Grand Lodge in Detroit, is deeply interested in all things pertaining to his order, and holds membership in Royalton Lodge No. 373. Mr. Stover cast his first Presidential vote for McClellan and was elected to his various offices by the Democratic party. His parents were members of the German Reformed Church. His wife is a Lutheran in her religious belief.