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1864–1885 · Chapman (1880), sketches and census; the 1875 Atlas biographies; Polk 1880–81, 1882–83, 1884–85
Chapman's village census of 1880 counts the town's trade in one sentence — "two good country stores," a drug and hardware store, a hotel, shops, a saw-mill and a grist-mill, "although they have no railroad" — and names nobody. LK-2 filed the identifications as G-LK2-4. This pass settles one of the two country stores and holds the other formally open, with its candidates printed at their strengths.
The identified store is Charles J. Swezey's. Chapman's own sketch supplies him: Charles J. Sweezey (so Chapman spells it), born 3 June 1839 in Yates County, New York, "came to Lakeville in 1875, and engaged in the mercantile business; he has a large country store and is doing a good business; has been Postmaster, but now holds the office of Township Trustee." Polk's 1880–81 entry prints him twice — in its header, "C. J. Swezey, postmaster," and in its listings, "Swezey Cy, General Store." By 1882–83 he is gone from the entry entirely — no Swezey listing, and the postmastership has passed to John Hupp. His fate is stated by no carrier. The build prints Swezey's, from 1875, as one of Chapman's two country stores, identified at sketch-plus-directory strength. The store count itself carries a tension, printed whole: against Chapman's "two good country stores," Polk lists exactly one General Store in each 1880s edition (Swezey in 1880–81; Reed & Shaneover in 1882–83; Reed John in 1884–85) plus the same grocer throughout — the census and the canvasses count the town's stores differently, and the difference stands.
The second store's candidates stand at three strengths, none promoted. Charles W. Moon — the Atlas biography: born in Union Township 9 January 1845, son of Eli Moon, who came in February 1836; "in 1869 he went into the mercantile business in Lakeville" — and Goodspeed (1893) styles him "general merchant and grain dealer of Lakeville"; yet Polk's 1880s editions carry Moon only in a civic line ("Moon Charles W, justice of the peace"), never as a store listing, and the 1916–17 "Moon's Cash Store, genl store and farm implts" is not merged onto his line — whether that store was his own, a successor's, or a kinsman's is unstated. P. P. DuComb — the Atlas's interleaved biographical text carries, at fragment strength, that on leaving the army he "engaged in the mercantile business in Lakeville" (c. 1864–65); the name returns at full directory strength two generations later ("DuComb P P & Son, genl store," 1916–17), continuity claimed by no carrier. W. S. Clark — grocer in all three 1880s editions, unchanged; a candidate at grocer strength only. Behind them, the Atlas's detached merchant rows (p. 90 — "Postmaster and Merchant," "Merchant" twice, "Dealer in Dry Goods, Boots and Shoes, Groceries, etc.," the name column detached, attachment strength zero) prove merchant depth in the township by 1875 without naming the men. G-LK2-4 stands open on its second-store and physician slots, sharpened: settlers, the 1870 federal census's Union Township schedules and the Lakeville Standard run.