WILLIAM WEES was a farmer and honored pioneer settler of Berrien county but is now deceased, was born in the province of Quebec, Canada, December 7, 1829, and died at his home in Benton Harbor on the 10th day of July, 1905. His parents were Peter and Joyce (Brown) Wees. The mother came from England to America with her parents when twelve years of age. Peter Wees was a farmer byoccupation and died at the age of forty-two years. In the family were five sons, four of whom came from Canada to the United States, while Thomas is still living in the dominion. John, Robert and Wesley Wees all settled in California and John is still living, making his home at San Bernardino.

William Wees was reared to manhood upon a farm in his native country and acquired a good common-school education. In the summer months he was carefully trained to the work of the fields, so that when he started out in life on his own account, he had good practical experience to aid him. On the 26th day of February, 1850, William Wees was united in marriage at Dresden, Ontario, to Miss Isabelle Randall, who was born in Quebec, Canada, November 1, 1830. In 1853 she came to Berrien county, visiting her mother, who was then living in Millburg, where she had resided for a year. A sister, Minerva Randall, became the wife of Warren H. Pearl, a brother of Major Pearl, who had settled near Pearl Grange. Isabelle Randall also had an uncle, Joseph Randall, living in St. Joseph, where he owned and conducted a shipyard, being a ship builder by trade. He was a pioneer settler of the county, coming here when St. Joseph was a small village standing on the bottom land. The year of his arrival was not later than 1840 and he took an active part in the early development of this portion of the state. Soon after the discovery of gold in California, however, he removed to the Pacific coast, where he is yet remembered by the old vessel men.

William Wees in early life learned the carpenter’s trade and followed that pursuit in Berrien county, helping to build the Warren Pearl mill, also the Samuel McWiggins mill and the Randall mill. He likewise aided in the erection of some of the early houses of the county and a number of the old buildings are still standing as monuments of his skill and handiwork. When his capital permitted, however, he bought land, becoming owner of a tract about four miles southeast of Benton Harbor. Upon the place was a log cabin, in which he lived for two years, when he replaced the pioneer home by a small frame building, living therein until the erection of the present house about twenty years ago. He at first had fifty-eight acres of land, to which he added as his financial resources increased until he owned seventy-eight acres, constituting a good farm, for the land was placed under a high state of cultivation. In 1880 he invested in Kansas land, which he later sold to good advantage. In 1864 he went to California, where he devoted two years to placer mining with satisfactory results. Returning then to Berrien county, Michigan, he gave undivided attention to his farm and afterward set out a valuable orchard, planting thirty acres to peaches, but he lost his trees through the yellows and therefore set out apple trees.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Wees were born the following children: Elva, now the wife of A. A. Morrill, living in Wallin, Michigan; James Lowell, who resides at Silver City, Idaho, where for twenty years he has been engaged in placer mining with good success; William Bruce, of Benton Harbor, who for fifteen years traveled in the interests of a fruit buying firm, traveling from Florida to Maine, but is now operating in Washington and Oregon; Cynthia, the wife of William McKindley, a resident farmer of Benton township; Henry, a fruit buyer of Benton Harbor, also dealing in gasoline engines; Mina Belle, who is living at home with her mother in Benton Harbor and is a graduate of the normal college. She has been a successful teacher, having taught in the graded schools in St. Clair and in St. Joseph, Michigan.

In his political affiliation Mr. Wees was a democrat. He was a charter member of Pearl Grange and was interested in all matters of local progress and improvement. At his death his remains were interred in the Pearl cemetery, which stands on the original farm of Warren Pearl. He was a fine rifle shot and annually in company with Major Pearl and others took trips to northern Michigan for the purpose of hunting. He found great enjoyment in this sport and it proved an excellent source of recreation. Mr. Wees well deserves representation in this volume as one of the honored pioneer settlers of the county and one whose success in life is attributable to his earnest labor and careful management.

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