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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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WILLIAM SHULTZ. The farming class of America and especially of the Northern tier is notable for the degree of intelligence that is possessed by its representatives. William Shultz belonged to one of the most progressive of families, and is proud of the fact that his father was one of those fast disappearing landmarks of the heroic past, an early pioneer. Mr. Shultz is a native of this county, born on the 7th of February, 1843, and here he has passed almost his entire life. He is one of those thrifty and energetic farmers for which Berrien County has become well known, and in the conduct of his affairs has shown good judgment and business foresight.

He was the youngest of a family of three children born to John G. and Elizabeth (Storick) Shultz, natives respectively of Maryland and Pennsylvania. The father came to this State in 1835, when a young man, and the Storick family made their advent into this section about the same time. The parents were married in Berrien County in 1836. As Mr. Shultz had about $200 on coming to this county, he invested it in the butchering business, but this did not prove a paying investment. For one year after this he drove a team for Pit Brown, who kept a tavern in what is now Berrien Springs, when the town was under the hill. His next move was to enter eighty acres of land in this township, where G. N. Parkton now resides, and the same year he entered the old Shultz homestead. The Indians were then quite numerous but friendly, and the wood abounded in game,

For five years Indians made sugar on the eighty-acre tract, and he then began clearing it of the heavy timber with which it was covered. At the end of three or four years he entered eighty acres more adjoining, and still later purchased one hundred and eighteen acres also adjoining, which was slightly improved. Following this, he bought one hundred and twenty acres for his son-in-law, Byron Pennell, and during the war he purchased and gave his son-in-law Amos Painter one hundred and sixty acres, all of which was accumulated by the thrift and enterprise of Mr. Shultz from 1838 to 1864. At the time of his death, which occurred in August, 1888, he had one hundred and fifteen acres of the home place under an excellent state of cultivation. His first residence in the wilderness was a log house, with rough board flooring and one window and one door. Later he had a matched floor put in, and then a brick chimney. In 1852 he erected a good frame barn, and soon after a two-story frame dwelling, the latter costing about $2,500, as everything was dressed by hand. This residence still stands and is in a good state of preservation.

Mr. Shultz built his next residence in 1880, a two-story brick of twelve rooms. The brick was purchased in Cass County, Mich., and hauled with teams to the farm. This house cost $4,000. At the time of his death Mr. Shultz was worth from $18,000 to $20,000 after giving each of his children from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and ninety-four acres of land. All of this was the result of great industry and good management on his part, for he was strictly a self-made man. His children were as follows: Mrs. Harriet Painter, wife of Amos Painter; Sarah, wife of Byron Pennell; and William, our subject. Mr. Shultz was seventy-nine years of age at the time of his death; and his wife, who died the same year, was eighty-eight years of age, nearly ten years older than her husband. Many years previous to his death Mr. Shultz attached himself to the Presbyterian Church, and for twelve years previous to her death Mrs. Shultz was a member of the Dunkard Church. No better citizens made their homes in the county.

The youthful days of our subject were passed in performing duties on the farm and in attending the common school, where he received a fair education. He labored on his father’s farm until twenty-four years of age and then, in 1871, was married to Miss Annie Wilson, a native of Berrien County, and the daughter of Ezra D. and Phoebe A. (VanVlear) Wilson, of Cass County, Mich. Our subject purchased the old homestead in 1891, for $11,000, and now has two hundred and fifty-eight acres of excellent land, with one hundred and twenty-five acres under cultivation. He has made a number of minor improvements on the home place, and is a thoroughly practical farmer. His marriage was blessed by the birth of four children: Roscoe, who died in infancy; Walter; Myrtle and Bertha. Walter was married in 1892 to Miss Lydia Harner. Politically, Mr. Shultz is a Democrat, as was his father before him.

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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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