My Genealogy Hound

VALENTINE HAAS is an early settler of Berrien County, and a practical and energetic farmer, well posted in all the details of general agriculture. He also successfully handles a high grade of stock. By birth a Pennsylvanian, our subject was born in Juniata County, December 3, 1831. He resides upon section 9, Bertrand Township, in which locality he has lived for thirty-nine years. His parents, Eli and Catherine (Keeley) Haas, were highly respected citizens of Pennsylvania, and within the boundaries of that State reared their family.

Eli Haas was born in Frederick County, Md., and the paternal grandfather, Valentine Haas, was a native of Virginia. The birthplace of Mrs. Haas was in Montgomery County, Pa. Her father, John Keeley, was a native of Germany, and was a man of sterling integrity of character, thrifty and industrious. The parents of Valentine Haas were united in marriage in Pennsylvania, and settled upon a farm in Juniata County. Here they pursued the even tenor of their lives, the father season after season cultivating the soil of the old homestead. At sixty-five years of age he peacefully passed away, mourned by all who knew him. The mother, who survived to reach seventy-five years, bore a family of eleven children, five sons and six daughters, ten of whom survived the perils of childhood and reached maturity; and five are yet living.

Mr. Haas is the fifth child and the third son in the parental family. He was reared on a farm and trained in the daily round of labor. He attended the schools of his native place and received a good common education. Having dutifully assisted his parents upon the homestead until nineteen years of age, he then served an apprenticeship at the trade of a blacksmith at Selens Grove. For two years he devoted his time to the anvil and then, deciding to try the broader West, came to Michigan, locating m Bertrand Township upon section 15, where he improved a farm.

In 1852, our subject was married to Miss Elizabeth Shetterly, a native of Juniata County, Pa. This estimable lady died in Michigan in 1881. She was the mother of three children, one daughter and two sons, all of whom are now deceased. George, the eldest-born, reached twenty years of age. He was married, and at his death left one child, Ivy, the only grandchild of Mr. Haas. October 11, 1883, Mr. Haas was married to Miss Mary Beyrer, a native of Bertrand Township. Her parents, Jacob and Doratha (Griner) Beyrer, were natives of Germany and settled in Michigan in 1851. The father makes his home with our subject, aged eighty-seven years. The mother died in 1883, aged seventy-two years.

Our subject arrived in Berrien County, Mich., with a capital of $100 and at once made a purchase of fifty acres of land, situated in the woods. For fifteen years he patiently toiled, with hard work clearing and cultivating the small homestead, and then, having with diligent industry prospered, invested in a valuable farm of one hundred and ninety-one acres, to which in 1877 he removed. He owns forty acres a-half mile distant from his present place of residence, and, steadily accumulating, is now numbered among the substantial and well-to-do men of Bertrand Township. In 1881, he built upon the home farm a fine and commodious barn with all modern conveniences for storing grain and housing his stock. This barn was erected at a cost of $1,000. In 1889, the extent of his agricultural interests demanding still greater accommodation, Mr. Haas built another substantial barn, at a cost of $500. The thrifty and prosperous appearance of the farm clearly evidences the excellent management and financial success of its owner.

Our subject is a valued member of the Evangelical Zion Church and has held the office of Steward in that religious organization. He gave generously toward the erection of its commodious house of worship and has ever liberally assisted in the extension of its good work and benevolent enterprises. Politically a Democrat, Mr. Haas is not a politician but is ever deeply interested in local and National government, and, an intelligent and public-spirited citizen, is prominently associated with the progressive interests of Bertrand Township.