The Past and Present of Shiawassee County, Michigan - Historically - Together with Biographical Sketches of many of its Leading Citizens And Illustrious Dead
The Michigan Historical Publishing Association, Lansing, Michigan
Page 376
Charles Lahring, the subject of this sketch is of German extraction. His father and mother were both born in Germany, whence they immigrated to this country. They were of the study German stock-that has given to the American republic so valuable an element, representing honesty, industry and economy, and proving a power for good in all the relations of life. Wherever you find the German you will find industry and economy and that which emanates from it, prosperity.
The father of the subject of this sketch was Herman Lahring, and the mother was Katherine Lahring. The mother is living with one of her sons near the home of the subject of this sketch, but the father died in the year 1872, when Charles was but twelve years of age. The mother is now seyenty-eight years of age and is in very feeble health.
Herman Lahring was a man who had acquired considerable wealth. At his death he was possessed of two hundred and fifty-six acres of good farming land in Burns township, besides other property. The sons, working upon the principal that in unity there is strength, all remained at home, working together. When the property was divided each received the value of six hundred dollars in real estate, the mother reserving for herself fifty-six acres of the land as her homestead. Of the ten children, the oldest is Mrs. Cecelia Ketson; the second, Lewis, resides on a farm in Shiawassee county; the third, Elizabeth, was the wife of Mr. Mark Boyce, who is deceased; the fourth, Amelia, is the widow of Andrew Lilly; the fifth, Mary, is deceased; the sixth, William, is a farmer in Burns township; the seventh is Charles, subject of this sketch; the eighth, Frank, is a farmer, as are also Culver and Henry.
Politically Mr. Lahring is a Democrat. He is not active in politics, but in political matters takes the interest commensurate with good citizenship. He received his early education in the district school,-in what is known as the Cole school house. He worked upon the farm with his brothers until he had attained to the age of twenty-two years.
In the year 1888 Mr. Lahring was united in marriage to Victoria Buck, who is of English extraction. Her father was born in England, but had lived in America for a number of years prior to his death. Mrs. Lahring's mother is still living. Mr. and Mrs. Lahring have two children, Lottie, born March 23, 1892, and Mary, born June 5, 1903.
Our subject is a member of the Methodist church. He has a fine farm of over one hundred and twenty-two acres of land, in section 9, Burns township, and the same is well improved. He is engaged in general farming of which he makes a success, and is rapidly adding to the wealth which he already possesses.
Top of Page
The Past and Present of Shiawassee County, Michigan - Historically - Together with Biographical Sketches of many of its Leading Citizens And Illustrious Dead
The Michigan Historical Publishing Association, Lansing, Michigan
Page 376
The neighboring province of Ontario, Canada, has furnished Michigan many, very many, of her best and most prosperous farmers. One of these is the gentleman whose name heads this article and who now resides on section 16, Hazelton township. Although a native of Canada, as were his father and grandfather before him, he is descended from German stock on his father's side. His mother, Aranetta (Cooper) Lawson, was born in the state of New York, February 13, 1821; she is now living with her son in Hazelton. Wesley Lawson was born January 1, 1857. He was a son of Caleb Lawson, who was born near Hamilton, Ontario, July 7, 1822, and who died in Hazelton, February 22, 1905. He always followed farming and when a young man purchased fifty acres of native forest in Haldimand county, Canada, and set to work at once to build a dwelling on the place. He cleared the farm and made his home there until 1865, when he sold and removed to Hazelton township, Shiawassee county, Michigan, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres of virgin land, heavily timbered. He first built a log shanty and a few years later a log house, in which he lived until fifteen years ago, when he erected a beautiful frame house and barn, with other buildings. With the aid of his sons, he cleared the land and made the farm one of the best in Hazelton township. A few years ago he gave up farming, selling his property and went to live with his son George, where he remained until his death, February 22, 1905, as stated above. He was always a Republican in politics and was highway commissioner for several years. This, with the exception of being a school officer, was the only public office he ever filled. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as is also his widow, both being quite active in religious matters. They were married in Canada, May 24, 1853, and had a family of three children: Mary, who was born in 1854, died thirty-two years ago, unmarried; our subject was the next in order of birth; George, who was born July 4, 1862, married Alva Burpee, and they live in Hazelton township.
Our subject was educated in the district schools of Hazelton township and lived at home with his parents until twenty-seven years of age. January 1, 1884, he was married to Sarah J. Wood, a native of Canada, where she was born March 18, 1862. She is a daughter of Isaac and Harriet (Grace) Wood, the latter of whom died in Canada. Mr. Wood married a second time, and came to Michigan, locating in Hazelton township. Mrs. Lawson was one of five children, three of whom are now living: Mrs. Lawson, John H., of Kalkaska county; and Anna, wife of Riley St. John, of Owosso township.
After our subject was married he rented his father's place and worked it on shares, living there for four years. He then bought forty acres of land near his father's farm. This was mostly cleared. He built a house and barn and finished clearing the land. He subsequently bought forty acres more, all improved, upon which he made his home for seven or eight years. He then bought eighty acres near where he now lives and remained there three years. Next he purchased his present farm of eighty acres, which was well improved, and which with the exception of some changes which he has made and including additions to the buildings, is about the same as when he bought the property. He has a large frame house, big barn and other buildings. The land is under a fine state of cultivation and the whole is a model of neatness, impressing the beholder with the fact that the owner is a splendid farmer. He has always been engaged in agriculture pursuits, making no specialty of any one line but conducting varied farming and making rotation in crops.
Mr. and Mrs. Lawson have two children,Ethela was born October 18, 1886, and is clerking in Beatty's store, at New Lothrop, Ansel was born March 31, 1888, is single and remains at home. Mr. Lawson is a Republican in politics but never has held office. He is a member of the Grange. Both he and his wife are extremely pleasant people and are highly honored and respected by their neighbors. In short, Hazelton has no better farmer or more worthy citizen than Wesley Lawson.
Top of Page
The Past and Present of Shiawassee County, Michigan - Historically - Together with Biographical Sketches of many of its Leading Citizens And Illustrious Dead
The Michigan Historical Publishing Association, Lansing, Michigan
Page 378
Joel Leavitt has not been a drone in the hive of humanity, but rather has been a ian of great industry, as the result of which success has crowned his efforts. 'Tis true that "To climb steep hill requires slow pace at first,"-but they scarcely ever fail who try and persevere. So it has been with Joel Leavitt. He has climbed and tried and succeeded, being now a well-to-do farmer in Fairfield township. His patience and toil have been duly rewarded. August, 1862, he enlisted in the navy, at the Brooklyn, New York, navy yard, as a landsman, and was assigned to duty on the battleship Monticello, Commodore Barney, and was discharged from the Moss, at the expiration of one year, the time for which he enlisted. He was engaged in the naval battle of Newport News, near West Point, with some skirmishes on the rivers; he was at Baltimore, Maryland. Mr. Leavitt is a native of Hinkley township, Medina county, Ohio, where he was born October 3, 1840. His father, Moses Leavitt, who hailed from Maine, where he was born in 1796, died in Fairfield township, in 1858. His mother, Ruth (Emerson) Leavitt also died there, having been a Vermonter. Moses Leavitt removed to Canada with his parents when a boy, and there met and married Ruth Emerson. After the first six children were born the father of the subject of this sketch removed with his family to Ohio, where he bought fifty acres of wild land, in Brunswick township, Medina county. He built a log house and stable and cleared the land. In 1851 he-sold the property and removed to Fairfield township, Shiawassee county, Michigan, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres of government land, on section 24. In the spring; of 1852 he came from Cleveland to Detroit by boat, and thence with an ox team to his future home. The family lived with a neighbor, one and one-half miles distant while building a log house on the new place. He cleared twenty acres before his death. After this sad event Joel and his brothers worked the farm for a time, but in 1865 Joel bought his present place, on section 14. It consisted of eighty acres of wild land. On this he built a log house and stable, and eventually he cleared the land. At the end of the year the log house was burned. This was replaced with another log structure and later he added forty acres of wild land. This he also cleared. He has now a fine frame house and good barns.
In February, 1864, Mr. Leavitt married Achsah Scott, who was born in September, 1845, and who died October 12, 1890. Mrs. Leavitt's father, Jason Scott, was born in New York state, and came to Livingston county, Mich., at an early day, buying land in that county. He lived there until the occasion of a visit in New York state, where he died. Mrs. Leavitt's mother, Sarah (Wilsey) Scott, died near Elsie. Mrs. Leavitt was the fifth of ten children. Laura was married, and died in Nebraska; Walter died in Toledo; Mary was married, and died in Howell, Michigan; Park married Irene Franklin and lives in Carland, Mich.; Charlotte married Levi Leavitt and lived in Fairfield township; Albert died in the west, Caroline married, having been the eighth child; Delia married George Cobb and lives at Elsie, Michigan; Ruth died young.
Mr. and Mrs. Leavitt have five children, all of whom are living: Alva, who lives in Fairfield township, married Barbara Snyder, and they have two children, Clara and Norman J. Emma is the wife of Fred A. Dunham, of Turner, Arenac county, and they have two children,-Grace and Erma. Herbert L. lives in Fairchild township, being a bachelor; Helen D. is married and lives in Chapin, having two children, Fern and Elna; Myra I. is the wife of Edward Williams of Fairfield township; they have no children.
Mr. Leavitt was the eighth of twelve children, the first six having been born in Canada and the others in Ohio: Abigail, who lives in Clare, Mich., married Elvin Lee, now deceased, and has five children-Dwight, Charles, Milton, Nancy and Ruth. Moses D. lives in Medina county, Ohio, is married, and has four children. Amy married Henry Higgins and died in Fairfield township, leaving no children. Rachel married Soloman Smith and is now deceased. Sara died unmarried. Luther lives in Fairfield township, being a bachelor. John lives in Missouri, is married and has three children,-Frederick, Lora and John. Marshall lives in Saginaw county. He had three children by his first marriage and none by his second. Matilda lives in Owosso, being the widow of Henry Ferris, and having had three children,-Harry, Harvey and Martella. Levi, deceased, married Charlotte Scott and they had six children,-Melvin, Ruth, Dudley, Grover and two daughters who died young. James died in Ohio, unmarried.
Joel Leavitt is a pronounced Democrat and has been a director of his school district for several years, taking a loyal interest in local affairs of a public nature.
Top of Page
The Past and Present of Shiawassee County, Michigan - Historically - Together with Biographical Sketches of many of its Leading Citizens And Illustrious Dead
The Michigan Historical Publishing Association, Lansing, Michigan
Page 381
The safe and conservative conduct of a financial institution plays an important part in the substantial development of a city and community. The part which the First National Bank of Durand has contributed in this direction has been inestimable as a financial factor to Durand's rapid commercial development. The organization of this institution took place August 8, 1898, as the Bank of Durand and in July, 1900, it was changed from a state to a national bank. The first board of directors comprised 0. H. Hobart, N. P. Leland, W. L. Scribler, Benjamin Geer, F. A. Millard, A. Derham, L. Loucks, F. G. Bailey and J. D. Leland. The first executive officers were president, Luther Locks; vice-president, 0. H. Hobart; and cashier, J. D. Leland. It had a capital stock of twenty-five thousand dollars, all paid in at the opening of the bank. The present board of directors numbers its members as follows: L. Loucks, N. P. Leland, J. D. Leland, C. S. Reed, J. F. Hutton, F. C. Gale, M. D. Geer, B. W. Calkins and George Brooks. The present president is L. Loucks; vice-president, N. P. Leland; and cashier, J. D. Leland. The surplus on hand now is six thousand dollars and until this year the bank has paid its stockholders four per cent. semi-annually, but now are paying' three per cent., in order that they may increase their surplus more rapidly. The First National Bank has on deposit three hundred thousand dollars, as much as any bank in the state with twenty-five thousand dollars capital. To the growth and development of this institution J. D. Leland, its efficient cashier, has contributed his best efforts, with gratifying success.
A native of the old Empire state, Mr. Leland was born in Orleans county, New York, March 22, 1845, being a son of J. W. and Phebe (Austin) Leland, natives of New York. The father came to Michigan in 1851 and located in Sciota township, Shiawassee county. He died in 1856 and his wife in 1865.
Our subject, the second in a family of six children, acquired his early education in the district schools and after six years of such training he attended the Corunna high school, after leaving which he taught in the grammar department for one year. His brother Mahlon resides in Kansas, and his brother William H. lives near Mount Pleasant, Michigan.
September 1, 1870, our subject entered the First National Bank at Corunna and was there twenty years, as bookkeeper, assistant cashier and finally cashier. He then went to Saginaw and was assistant cashier in the Bank of Saginaw. From there he came to Durand, in 1898, and organized the bank of which he is now cashier.
Politically, Mr. Leland is in full sympathy with the principles of the Prohibition party. He firmly believes.that the legalized licensed saloon is the one great enemy of the home, the school, and the church, and, as a natural sequence, the natural enemy of man. He views the liquor business as conducted in this country as the great destroyer of human happiness and the greatest curse and danger to our American institutions and to our Christian civilization. As the friend of humanity, he is the sworn enemy of this monster vice of the twentieth century. In 1904 he was the candidate of his party for regent of the University of Michigan. Religiously, Mr. Leland is a valued member and communicant of the Episcopal church, recognized as a consistent Christian gentleman.
Mr. Leland has somewhat of inventive genius in his makeup, having recently invented the Eureka adding-machine carriage, a very practical yet simple device, which is especially adapted to be used with the Burroughs adding machine, but which is equally adapted to any other machine and to typewriters as well. He has had the carriage patented and it is being used quite extensively in banks and offices. As an indication of its merits, Mr. Leland is in receipt of many commendatory and enquiring letters from all parts of the country. Mr. Leland also wrote a form for bank books, which is coming into general use.
J. D. Leland was married June 22, 1870, to Cordelia, daughter of Dr. J. H. Hascall, who was an early settler of Shiawassee county. To them has been born one daughter, Irene, the wife of F. William Nothwagle, cashier of the State Bank of Byron. Mr. Nothwagle had charge of all German taught in the west side schools of Saginaw for nine years prior to assuming his present work
Our subject is a thirty-second degree Mason, was high priest of the chapter and master of the lodge for six years, is a member of all Masonic bodies of Corunna, was first high priest of Durand chapter and is a member of the Knights of the Maccabees and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. J. D. Leland has figured as a capable financier of. the First National Bank of Durand and is a man of more, than ordinary ability. Being of an unassailable reputation, he enjoys the highest confidence and esteem not only of his associates.but also of the numerous depositors of this institution.
Top of Page
The Past and Present of Shiawassee County, Michigan - Historically - Together with Biographical Sketches of many of its Leading Citizens And Illustrious Dead
The Michigan Historical Publishing Association, Lansing, Michigan
Page 382
The early struggles of some of the men who have made a financial success of life are worthy of recountal and make most interesting reading. We cannot too often, in this country of freedom and opportunity, repeat the story of the man who by his own industry and honesty has provided himself with a splendid home and gained the respect and confidence of all who know him.
Clarence C. Leroy was born at Long Lake, in Livingston county, Michigan, on the 13th of September, 1852. His father, George Leroy, was also a native of Livingston county, and for many years conducted a hotel at Long Lake. On the breaking out of the civil war he enlisted in the army and has never since been heard from. The mother's maiden name was Catherine Runyan. She is also a native of Livingston county, and at present is residing at Corunna, in her eighty-third year. Unhappily, the parents separated when subject was but a child, leaving him to make his home with his grandparents, where he resided until he had arrived at the age of twelve years, during this time attending school at what is known as the Riggs school house, on the plains. The grandfather with whom our subject resided in his boyhood was known as Judge Leroy and was one of the most distinguished pioneers of Livingston county.
After our subject had passed his twelfth year, with a strong little heart but with tender muscles he commenced to work on a farm near Pontiac, being thus engaged for a period of four years. He then went to Davenport, Iowa, where he worked upon a farm one year. Returning to his native state he worked one year for Harvey Judd, who resided near Pontiac, and one year for John Northwood, of Saginaw county. He then came to the township which was to be his future home, laboring for four years upon the farm of Freeman Turner. It was while laboring for Mr. Turner that our subject had the good fortune to form the acquaintance of the splendid girl who fate had decreed should eventually become his helpmeet.
At the age of twenty-two years he had purchased eighty acres of wild land in Hazelton township, on section 8. Upon this land he erected a log cabin and there he lived alone for four years and, with strong arm and heart that knew no such word as fail, he felled the forest and started to cultivate the land which was afterward to prove one of the most productive farms in the county. Living alone is not an attractive life, and our subject having made sufficient start was happily united in marriage with the girl whom he had met and loved five years before. Hattie L. Felton was born in Genesee county, August 14, 1859. She is a daughter of Chester and Anna (Wood) Felton, who reside near Flushing. Chester Felton is a native of the state of New York, but came in an early day to Genesee county, Michigan, where he met and married his wife, who is a native of England, and who came to this country when she was three years old. Mr. Felton afterward moved to Hazelton township, where he purchased eighty acres of land. Good fortune permitted him to retire about eight years ago.
The union of subject and his wife has been blessed by the birth of four children. Arthur Garfield was born January 2, 1880, and married Clara Adams, of Hazelton township; they have two children. Floyd E., who was born December 23, 1882, and who is single and at home. Earl Wesley was born July 14, 1889, and lives at home. Howard was born July 21, 1896, and resides at home. Subject belongs to the Republican party. He is a member of the Free Methodist church. He has added forty acres to his original purchase; the second piece of land lies at a distance of about three-quarters of a mile from the original homestead. When we behold his fine farm and think that it has all come by his individual toil we feel like saying, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant."
Top of Page
The Past and Present of Shiawassee County, Michigan - Historically - Together with Biographical Sketches of many of its Leading Citizens And Illustrious Dead
The Michigan Historical Publishing Association, Lansing, Michigan
Page 383
Gardner W. Lindley, postmaster of Vernon, and a prominent, though not an aggressive Republican, as well as a well known business man of the locality, is a native of. the Empire state, having been born in Rochester, New York, in November, 1857. He is a son of Daniel W. and Lucy M. Lindley. His father was a native of Massachusetts and his mother of New York. When the family first came to Michigan it was the intention of the father to engage in farming, and he bought land in Venice township, with this purpose in view, but his health failed, and he was obliged to return to Rochester. Although by trade a carpenter he was unable at this time to follow that vocation and accepted the position of tollkeeper, dying in 1859, while thus employed. In early life the deceased was a Whig, the Republican party coming into being only a few years before his death, and he was one of the pioneers of the latter political organization. His wife survived him by twenty-eight years, the date of her death being 1887.
In 1861 Mr. Lindley became 'a permanent resident of Michigan, when he was four years of age, two years after the death of his father. He was educated in the district and the public schools, coming to Vernon in January, 1873. After leaving school he engaged in various lines of industry, although principally confining himself to house-painting and paper-hanging. He was thus employed until December, 1888, when he established a shoe business, which he conducted until 1894. Mr. Lindley then returned to his old lines of employment, continuing to follow them until he was appointed postmaster of Vernon, July 1, 1899.
January 1, 1885, he was married to Mary E. Sherman, who was born at Coldwater, Michigan, January 9, 1866, and who came of a good New York family. Her father, who had been a resident of Michigan for a number of years, was engaged in the marble business at St. Johns, and later in Vernon for some time. He was a Democrat in politics, an Episcopalian in religion, and was a steadfast and highly respected citizen. Both of Mrs. Lindley's parents are dead.
Mr. and Mrs. Lindley have one child-a son, Harold S., who was born April 15, 1889, and who is a student in the Vernon high school, in the tenth grade. Mr. Lindley has always been an active, consistent Republican in politics, and here, as in other fields of life, he is known as a man of deeds rather than of words. His fellow citizens had recognized his usefulness before the national administration made him postmaster, as he had already held the office of village treasurer two terms and that of village clerk four terms. He has also been actively identified with various secret and benevolent societies, especially the Masonic fraternity, the Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen. In his religious affiliations he is a Congregationalist.
Top of Page
The Past and Present of Shiawassee County, Michigan - Historically - Together with Biographical Sketches of many of its Leading Citizens And Illustrious Dead
The Michigan Historical Publishing Association, Lansing, Michigan
Page 384
This gentleman is a native of Troy, New York, where he was born July 2, 1830. In 1852 he bought forty acres of government land in Fairfield township, where he now lives. After locating this land he returned to Ohio, where he remained until September, 1857. He then brought his family to his new home and built a log house and stable. Not a tree was there cut between his house and Elsie, a distance of five miles. Mr. Loynes has built and assisted in building most of the roads in his locality. In 1874 he built a frame barn and ten years afterward a frame house. In 1869 he bought eighty acres more of wild land, on section 13, which he has since improved. He has since divided his property among his children. He started for himself at the age of eighteen years and worked for twenty-five and fifty cents a day. His father was Columbus Loynes, a native of Massachusetts, where he was born in 1794, and he died at Columbia, Ohio, in 1876. The latter's wife was Achsah Buck and was born in Mansfield, Massachusetts. She survived her husband and died in Columbia, Ohio. After the marriage of this couple they took up their home at Troy, New York, where Mr. Loynes worked as a moulder. In 1835 he went to Lorain county, Ohio, and bought one hundred and sixteen acres, mostly wild land, in Columbia township. He built a log house and cleared one hundred acres. He lived there at the time of his death.
October 23, 1851, Clement B. Loynes was married to Calista Ensign, in New York state; she was born October 3, 1835. The result of this union is five children, four of whom are living. Chas. E., born April 15, 1853, married Lizzie E. Goodell, March 27, 1881, and they had three children,-Hugh, Harold and Vena, the last being deceased. They lived in Clinton county. Lizzie M., born September 29, 1853, married Wright C. Sawyer, August 7, 1875, and they have five children: Pearl married Maine O'Dell, is now studying law in Detroit; Edna married William Peters, and they have two children, Kenneth and a baby; Lyle, Elma and Eva are the younger children of the Sawyer family. Frankie, born October 11, 1860, died March 9, 1861. Lewis H., born April 25, 1868, lives in Fairfield. He married Pearl E. Johnston, May 20, 1888, and has three sons, Joseph, John and Colon. D., born October 23, 1877, married Emma Snyder October 23, 1905, his marriage occurring on D.'s birthday and his father's fifty-fourth wedding anniversary.
Mr. Loynes is the third of six children. Columbus Christopher, born in Massachusetts, in June, 1824, lives in Fairfield township; he married Maria Fuller and they had two children-Ira and Byron. Comfort, born in Massachusetts, in June, 1827, died in Fairfield township; he married Mary B. Ensign, now dead, and they had four children,-Jane, Cassius, Sara and Delbert. Charles C., born in Troy, New York, in June, 1832, lives in Cleveland, Ohio; he married Caroline Smith and had four children,-Leonard, Annie (dead), Etta and Lottie. Achsah, born in Troy, New York, in 1831, lives in Brunswick, Ohio; she married George Bennett and had one child,-Caddie. Cornelius C., born in Ohio, in 1842, lives in Cass county, Michigan; he married Mary Hill and had one child,Frank.
The father of Mrs. Loynes was Rev. Erastus Ensign, who was born in Ontario county, New York, April 7, 1808, and who died at the home of his daughter February 13, 1889. He was a Free Will Baptist minister. After his marriage, in New York state, he removed to Ohio, in 1831. He bought some wild land and cleared it. Subsequently he was converted, and he preached at different intervals before his death. The mother of Mrs. Loynes, whose parents were married October 7, 1830, was Elizabeth Prouty, who was a native of New York, where she was born September 28, 1811. Mrs. Loynes was the fourth of seven children, who are enumerated below: Lorenzo and twin were born May 23, 1831; the baby died when it was born and Lorenzo died June 26, 1831. Mary R., born in Ohio, September 14, 1831, died December 22, 1899, having married Comfort D. Loynes. Erastus William, born October 4, 1839, died September 10, 1840. Martha R., born August 11, 1845, married Loren Frisbee, and had one daughter,-Alma. Betsy Jane married William Barber, and bore two daughters,-Mary and Maude.
When Mr. Loynes first came to Michigan he worked for fifty cents a day to buy salt and potatoes, and one spring he worked twenty-two days for eleven bushels of wheat,the price of the latter being one dollar per bushel; then he had to carry it on his back for a distance of four miles. A man hauled to mill for him and charged a shilling per bushel 24 for doing so. His hogs were killed by bears when he first located in Fairfield. He did not have a gun but used to hunt mink with a dog. Many a time in the early days it has taken him from one to two o'clock in the morning to get his cows home from the woods to milk. Mrs. Loynes is a member of the M. E. church. He is a Republican, has been justice of the peace for sixteen years, highway commissioner one term and a school officer for many years. His parents were Methodists. Mr. Loynes' motto in life seems to have been, "Work first and then rest." He has certainly gained for himself and family a splendid home and a beautiful farm. These, with the good opinion of his neighbors and friends galore, leave little to be desired.
Top of Page
The Past and Present of Shiawassee County, Michigan - Historically - Together with Biographical Sketches of many of its Leading Citizens And Illustrious Dead
The Michigan Historical Publishing Association, Lansing, Michigan
Page 385
The subject of this memoir was an honored citizen of Caledonia township, and his widow, Anna J. Lucas, is the proprietor of valuable farming property, both in Oakland and Shiawassee counties. Mr. Lucas was an Englishman, born in 1835, and died in 1870, at the age of thirty-five. There were seven children in the family, the only one living in this country being Richard Lucas, a resident of Tuscola county, Michigan. His parents lived and died in the mother country, and Samuel Lucas himself came to America in his early manhood.
In the year 1865 our subject was united in marriage to Miss Anna Jane Taylor, a native of Newbury, Oakland county, where she was born October 5, 1835. She is a daughter of Andrew Taylor, who was born in county Down, Ireland, and who died sixteen years ago, at the age of eighty-six years, and of Eliza (Stewart) Taylor, who was a native of the Empire state, and who died twenty-three years ago, at the age of seventy.
Mr. Taylor was not content to plod along under the discouragements attending the life of a farmer in the Emerald Isle, and when a young man emigrated to America, first locating in New York state. As he reached the shores of the "promised land" without money or friends, he at once commenced work as a farm hand, and, thus engaged, remained with his employer for a period of fourteen years. He married in New York state and located in Michigan in 1840, being then about thirtyseven years of age. This sturdy and industrious pioneer located in Oakland county, his farm comprising one hundred and sixty acres of wild land, which he cleared, improved and fashioned into a comfortable homestead. A tract of eighty acres was afterward added to the original farm; and here both he and his good wife passed their remaining days. The eighty acres last mentioned came into the possession of Mrs. Lucas, the present owner.
Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, of whom Mrs. Lucas is the eldest. Ruth Isabella, the second-born, is the wife of George Ramsey, and is a resident of the state of Washington. The third child, Eliza Ann, is unmarried and lives on the old farm in Oakland county, as does also David, a bachelor. Mary Ellen, the fifth in the family of children, died several years ago, and was followed by Margaret, the next born, within a few days.
It was during the year of his marriage, 1865, that Mr. Lucas located in Caledonia township, where he bought eighty acres of land, only partially improved, and built a log 'house, as the beginning of the family homestead. This building was burned, and he built again. He was making various improvements until the day of his death, but the family continued to occupy the second log house, and there the widow lived until about five years ago. Mrs. Lucas then erected a handsome frame dwelling, and, with her children, has since built substantial barns and other farm structures, so that the homestead has been transformed into a model of agricultural convenience and comfort, offering to the community one of the many substantial evidences that life, after all, is well worth the living.
Mrs. Lucas is the mother of three children, as follows: June, now the wife of Arnold Johnson, of Henderson, Shiawassee county, was born January 18, 1866; David J., thirtyseven years of age, is single, and is at home; Elizabeth Ann is the wife of J. J. Huffaker, who is a miner in Arizona.
Top of Page
This information is made available to the public for non-commercial purposes.
