Chester J. Carrel was born in Mentor, OH on 6 March 1848. At the age of seventeen, Chester left his father’s home and engaged in a hotel in Quincy, Michigan, where he remained eight years. Then he pursued farming and was employed by the L. S. & M. S. R. R. Company as a warehouse agent in Dorr, Michigan. When the railroad was built, the companies gave the people in the surrounding area an opportunity to have a free ride to Grand Rapids and back. This was a great treat for the people thinking of when they walked the distance of fourteen miles to Grand Rapids and now they could ride.

In October, 1874, he came to Byron Center and acted as station agent and telegraph operator for six years. In 1876 he purchased a residence on the business street, which he exchange in 1880 for a hotel on the same street next to the railroad. It was two stories high and had a saloon and feed barn in connection. The hotel accommodated sixteen guests. He was also the local commission agent for the house of J. L. Sebring & Co.
He was married 4 Feb 1868 to Mary Etta Shear, daughter of John and Lucinda (Hayes) Shear of Quincy, MI, born 5 Feb 1851. They had three children, Della E, born 21 Nov 1869 at Quincy, Lulu E., born 6 apr 1874 at Dorr and Leon S., born 2 Jun 1876 at Byron Center.